Earlier this week, New York State Police were called to Niagara Falls after tourists reported seeing a mom and her two children going over the barrier at the top of the waterfall.
It is believed that the New York mom, Chianti Means, 'intentionally jumped' into Niagara Falls with her two young children - nine-year-old Roman Rossman and five-month-old Mecca Means.
Security footage from the incident indicated that Means sent her nine-year-old child over the barrier first, followed by her baby and then herself, the Niagara Gazette reports.
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The devastating incident is believed to have been intentional. At a press conference, authorities were asked if Means was chasing her children, to which State Police Public Information Officer Trooper James O’Callaghan responded: “No, we believe this was intentional.
“Not going to get into what the witnesses saw because it’s still an active case, but it is alarming what they told us."
With the currents at Niagara Falls being so powerful, there's concern that Means and her two children could have been carried hundreds of miles from where they entered the water.
At present, authorities have not been able to locate the mom and her children.
Following previous incidents, it is possible that the bodies may never be recovered, despite the best efforts from rescue teams.
One man, named Vincent C. Stack, went missing at the waterfall in 1990. His remains were found two years later after drifting over 130 miles to the shores of Oswego.
Meanwhile, in 1981, the body of two-month-old Hesham Sayegh, was never discovered after he was dropped into the waterfall.
Speaking on Thursday (October 30) a member of the New York State police said in an interview with WKBW TV: "We've come to the conclusion that a 33-year-old mother, a nine-year-old son and then a five-month-old were all gone over the falls.
"We do believe it was intentional but the circumstances of that investigation and the circumstances of what actually happened are still under investigation.
"But we know that they went over due to the information from park police and some of the information we were able to obtain through multiple different sources in and around Niagara Falls and pieces of evidences we were able to come across in search warrants."
They continued: "They went there and they never came out. So that's where we're at. [...] Like I said there's a lot of safety railings, a lot of security measures at the state park so it's not something where they just stumbled in."
If you or someone you know is struggling or in a mental health crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach the Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.
Lucy Devine