A woman and her two young children are dead after they intentionally went over a safety rail and leaped into Niagara Falls on Monday, according to New York State Police.
The apparent murder-suicide unfolded at around 9 p.m. when Chianti Means, 33, took her 9-year-old and 5-month-old and stepped over the rail at Luna Island before plunging into the Niagara River. Luna Island is a small island between the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls that, along with the Horseshoe Falls, make up the popular tourist draw. The island is attached to Goat Island.
Law enforcement responded to the scene and determined that they had all gone over.
“The investigation has determined that this incident was intentional in nature, though the circumstances remain under investigation,” the New York State Police said in a news release.
Authorities are using unmanned aircraft and underwater units to search for the three missing persons.
Rescuers have still been unable to locate any of the bodies as of Thursday, New York State Police tell Fox News Digital.
Means and her kids — 9-year-old Roman Rossman and baby Mecca Means — were residents of Niagara Falls, according to the New York Post.
New York State Trooper James O’Callaghan said there were no other individuals involved and it was improbable that it was an accident.
“There’s a lot of security measures at the state parks. So it’s not something where they just stumbled in,” O’Callaghan said at a press briefing Wednesday. “This is a small area where it’s right at the crest of the falls and that’s where we believe at that point is where they went in.”
Luna Island is open 24 hours a day and it was dark when the incident occurred. Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls spanning the border between Canada and New York.
“Now what were the actual circumstances of how that went down? That is the part that we may know or may be able to solve, or we may never know. But the fact of the matter is, we don’t believe there are any other parties involved. We’re just talking about those three victims of those three individuals.”
O’Callaghan said that what eyewitnesses told police was “alarming,” although he wasn’t able to share what they said.
“They definitely went there on that night and none of them returned. But like I said, due to the information we have, we do know it was an intentional act. But the reason why is tougher to answer,” he said.
O’Callaghan said the family of those deceased have been very cooperative, which has allowed police to speed up their investigation. Means was mother to both children and they had different fathers.
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Police have also spoken to Means’ co-workers. Means described herself as a domestic violence counselor on her LinkedIn profile.
“We don’t see any indicators of [mental health issues] I guess that would meet the level of that kind of high stress or mental instability,” O’Callaghan said.
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
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