Summer hike turns tragic as parents, son fall off cliff

Associated Press

When William and Amanda Green took their two boys on a weekend outing, they headed for the Zoar Valley Gorge, a rugged area not far from their Buffalo, N.Y., home that includes waterfalls, forests and cliffs that plunge as much as 40 stories.

But a summer hike turned tragic when both parents were found dead Sunday near a creek at the bottom of the gorge. Their 4-year-old son, Alexander, was nearby with severe injuries, and their 7-year-old, Jacob, though less severely injured, was found hours later wandering the gorge floor alone.

Police on Monday were still trying to piece together exactly how the tragedy unfolded, though they said it appeared that the parents and Alexander fell about 200 feet down the cliff.

“It’s sheer. It drops straight down,” Erie County sheriff’s spokesman Scott Zylka said of the area where the family was found.

The valley is a popular hiking and kayaking spot 35 miles south of Buffalo.

According to Erie County Sheriff Timothy Howard, two hikers trekking through the bottom of the gorge came across the Greens’ bodies. The injured 4-year-old was nearby.

A sheriff’s helicopter made a dangerous landing on the gorge floor and evacuated the 4-year-old as emergency crews and police descended the cliff face. Rescuers searching the area for clues found sneakers and footprints too big for a 4-year-old.

Around that time, authorities learned from relatives that four members of the Green family had gone to the gorge.

More searchers were brought in, and a sheriff’s detective later found Jacob walking in the area. It was unclear Monday if the older boy fell along with his parents and brother.