Waco, TX – The search for an 8-year-old girl who went missing after a tragic crash on Christmas Eve in Sherman, Texas, remains ongoing. The incident occurred on the morning of December 24, around 9:30 a.m., when the vehicle, traveling on US-75, veered off the road and plunged into a flooded drainage ditch during heavy rainfall.
According to officials, six people were inside the vehicle at the time of the crash. Emergency responders managed to rescue four of the passengers, who were taken to Sherman Medical Center for treatment. Despite extensive efforts to locate the remaining two occupants, one body was recovered later that afternoon, but the young girl was still unaccounted for.
Lieutenant Samuel Boyle of the Sherman Police Department stated that first responders worked tirelessly to search the area where the vehicle had gone off the road, focusing on the water’s flow path and nearby creeks. Crews searched through the night and resumed their efforts early the next morning, expanding their search area into the lower branches of Post Oak and Choctaw creeks.
The city’s spokesperson, Nate Strauch, confirmed that the search continued throughout the following days, with authorities considering additional locations outside Sherman and into the county. However, despite the extensive efforts, the missing child has not yet been found.
Sherman police have not released the names or ages of the other passengers, but it is understood that the family was traveling from Durant to McKinney at the time of the accident. The cause of the crash is still under investigation, though Lieutenant Boyle suggested that a large accumulation of water on the road, possibly causing the vehicle to hydroplane, could have played a significant role in the incident.
“It’s a very dangerous situation,” Boyle said. “Once they’re in that drainage ditch, they’re really at the mercy of the water flow and the speed at which that’s going down. It’s a tragedy, it really is.”
Authorities continue to appeal for information as they press on with their search for the missing girl, and the community holds its breath, hoping for a positive outcome.