DAYTON — Dayton Police and Fire crews have suspended their search for a 7-year-old boy missing from Eastwood MetroPark. Today, News Center 7 spoke to his family near the river where he was last seen.
Lucas Rosales was last seen fishing with his family at Eastwood MetroPark Saturday evening.
His father, Agustin Rosales, and sister, Da’Najiah Wakefield, spoke to our team about what lead up to his disappearance.
>> PHOTOS: Search for missing 7-year-old boy enters 3rd day at Eastwood MetroPark
“We went to go fishing and to go running and playing, and walked to the river,” Agustin said.
He said when they were at the river, he was reminding his son to stay closer to him and away from the edge of the water.
Wakefield said at that time she, Lucas and her father were separated from the rest of the family.
At some point, Lucas went to go find other members of his family. Wakefield and Agustin said they don’t know what happened after that.
“My sister said she heard something fall and someone crying, and she said she saw splashes in the water and after that, we just don’t know,” Wakefield explained.
That was when they noticed Lucas was gone.
“We were yelling for him and looking around for about 15 minutes and then we called the police,” she said.
>> Formal search operations for 7-year-old missing from Eastwood MetroPark suspended
Since then, the family has been out at Eastwood MetroPark everyday.
Lucas’ sister told News Center 7 that he didn’t know how to swim.
“He was scared of water,” Wakefield said.
Dayton Police and Fire suspended formal search operations Monday afternoon. Still, the family is hoping for Lucas to be found.
“Please help me pray for my kid, that we will find him,” Agustin said.
Dayton Fire Captain Brad French said Monday evening that due to the timeline of the incident and the information available, the operation was transitioned from a search and rescue to a recovery operation.