DURHAM — For nearly three weeks, dozens of wardens, Maine Marine Patrol officers and volunteers have scoured the Androscoggin River for 5-year-old Valerio McFarland. On Monday, it took Christopher Lane, an L.L.Bean kayaking instructor and father of six, less than an hour to find the boy. Lane, 43, of Litchfield found Valerio’s body while kayaking […]
androscoggin river
Posted inLetters, sj-web
Help find Valerio McFarland
A grieving mother’s cry for more help from the community to find her 5-year-old boy, tragically swept away by the Androscoggin River, is a sound that should motivate everyone to oblige her heart-wrenching request. Her husbands’ cries for help should ring louder than any of life’s distractions in our ears and our hearts. The boy’s […]
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn
‘I want my son back’: Mother of lost boy appeals for help
LEWISTON — Helena Gagliano-McFarland walked into City Cab in Lewiston early Saturday morning carrying a neatly folded quilt and a fuzzy stuffed bear. “This is the blanket I’m going to wrap my son in when we find him,” she said, as tears leaked slowly from her eyes. Her son, 5-year-old Valerio McFarland, fell into the Androscoggin […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, sj-web
River search for Valerio McFarland, 5, continues
AUBURN — Nine days after a 5-year-old boy fell into the Androscoggin River, search efforts continued Thursday with digital imaging of the river’s depths and banks. A high-resolution camera captured more than 800 pictures of the swollen river, stretching from Bonney Park, where Valerio McFarland was swept downstream on the evening of April 24, to […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, sj-web
Capsized canoe retrieved in Lisbon
Lt. Tom Wrobel, left, and Jeff Carr of the Lisbon Fire/Rescue Department pull a canoe into the boat launch near the Paper Mill Trail in Lisbon on Wednesday. The canoe had capsized on the Androscoggin River in the area behind Lisbon High School. A firefighter said he believed the canoe was not occupied when it […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, sj-web
Auburn city manager maintains riverbank is safe
AUBURN — City Manager Peter Crichton believes the area where two local boys were swept away by the Androscoggin River is safe, despite a public plea by the boys’ parents to make the river’s edge less inviting to the children who play in the park steps away. “There have been thousands, tens of thousands of […]
Posted inRiver Valley, sj-web
Stolen safe recovered from Androscoggin River in Canton
State police diver Detective Michael Chavez pulls a safe out of the Androscoggin River in Canton on Thursday morning. The safe is reportedly related to a theft and criminal mischief investigation from October 2016, according to the Rumford Police Department. The case, still an active investigation by the Rumford Criminal Investigative Division, will be presented to […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Mark LaFlamme
River Rescue: Trying like hell for the happy ending
The man standing high atop the banks of the roaring Androscoggin River had a lot of questions and a lot of complaints. He stood with arms crossed near the edge of Riverside Drive, his face aglow with the red emergency lights that blazed all around. He scowled and shook his head in anger and disgust. […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Boys’ father: ‘I’ve never seen a river so angry’
When 10-year-old Maxim McFarland awoke in the hospital last week after nearly dying in the Androscoggin River, the first thing he did was ask about his little brother. Maxim had jumped into the fast-moving river to save 5-year-old Valerio. “When he was still intubated, he asked me. Even though he couldn’t talk, he mouthed at […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, sj-web
Efforts launched to raise money for family of boys who fell into the Androscoggin River
AUBURN — Police said two fundraising websites have been approved by the family of two young boys who fell into the Androscoggin River last week, one of whom is still missing, the other hospitalized. Auburn Deputy Police Chief Jason Moen confirmed that a Facebook page has been created by the boys’ aunt, Michelle Naous, that […]