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Three Illinois Children Die When Car Rolls Into Lake

Aired September 04, 2003 - 10:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour, though, in central Illinois, where investigators are trying to reconstruct events leading to the drowning of three small children. All were trapped inside their mother's car as it rolled into a lake.
Our Jeff Clinton is in -- our Jeff Flock -- I'm sorry -- is in Clinton, Illinois with the latest on the developing story.

Sorry. I didn't mean the name change there -- Jeff. Mr. Flock.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's Jeff Clinton in Flock, Illinois.

KAGAN: In Flock, Illinois, there you go.

FLOCK: I don't have a town named after me.

KAGAN: No.

FLOCK: There's a lot more also we don't know about this story than we know this morning, Daryn. In fact, as you report, there are three children dead this morning, having wound up in a lake in a car. The details of that at this point we don't know. We expect investigators back in this building back behind me here in the sheriff's department, DeWitt County Sheriff's, to reconvene. They were here until midnight last night considering what they know about this case.

I want to show you the latest pictures, though, from the scene. It was a boat ramp. The incident took place on Tuesday evening. The sheriff here telling me last night this is being treated as a very serious incident. A car apparently rolled into Lake -- or I should say Clinton Lake, which is not too far from downtown here. Three children inside.

The mother of the three children, Amanda Hamm, 28 years old, also from Clinton, apparently called 911 from a pay phone at the scene. Two of her children died at the scene inside that car. They were pulled out. Her one 23-month-old little daughter was taken off to a medical center. She died there yesterday.

At this point, authorities are saying they don't know what, if anything, the mother did to try and save the children. They have, though, now charged the woman's boyfriend. His name is Maurice Legron (ph), 28 years old, also from Clinton, charged him with driving under the influence of drugs. And he was driving the car, apparently, when the children wound up in the lake. So, at this point, authorities are trying to piece together exactly what happened. They say that any time there is an incident, like this, they want to be 100 percent sure of just what went on. But at this point, they don't know completely.

And, Daryn, they're telling us now that they may not even know today. They might not have it completely nailed down today. So, we may be waiting a while. And they've also talked about maybe re-creating the incident back out at the lake. We'll keep an eye on it.

Back to you.

KAGAN: Jeff, you mentioned the drugs. Is there any suggestion at this point that it could have been intentional driving into this lake?

FLOCK: I guess, you know, in the shades of Susan Smith that's on everyone's mind when you have a car that winds up in a lake at a boat ramp when there is no boat involved. That's certainly something that comes to people's mind. But I would be very careful in saying that. There is absolutely nothing in terms of evidence that indicates that. I even asked the sheriff last night, 'Is this something that you're looking at as a possible homicide?' And he said at this point that would be going too far to state it that way. So, we want to be very careful about that.

KAGAN: Well, no matter how you describe it, it's a tragedy for this family in the loss of the three young children.

FLOCK: You said it.

KAGAN: Jeff, thank you so much from Clinton, Illinois.

FLOCK: You said it.

KAGAN: Appreciate that.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired September 4, 2003 - 10:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour, though, in central Illinois, where investigators are trying to reconstruct events leading to the drowning of three small children. All were trapped inside their mother's car as it rolled into a lake.
Our Jeff Clinton is in -- our Jeff Flock -- I'm sorry -- is in Clinton, Illinois with the latest on the developing story.

Sorry. I didn't mean the name change there -- Jeff. Mr. Flock.

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's Jeff Clinton in Flock, Illinois.

KAGAN: In Flock, Illinois, there you go.

FLOCK: I don't have a town named after me.

KAGAN: No.

FLOCK: There's a lot more also we don't know about this story than we know this morning, Daryn. In fact, as you report, there are three children dead this morning, having wound up in a lake in a car. The details of that at this point we don't know. We expect investigators back in this building back behind me here in the sheriff's department, DeWitt County Sheriff's, to reconvene. They were here until midnight last night considering what they know about this case.

I want to show you the latest pictures, though, from the scene. It was a boat ramp. The incident took place on Tuesday evening. The sheriff here telling me last night this is being treated as a very serious incident. A car apparently rolled into Lake -- or I should say Clinton Lake, which is not too far from downtown here. Three children inside.

The mother of the three children, Amanda Hamm, 28 years old, also from Clinton, apparently called 911 from a pay phone at the scene. Two of her children died at the scene inside that car. They were pulled out. Her one 23-month-old little daughter was taken off to a medical center. She died there yesterday.

At this point, authorities are saying they don't know what, if anything, the mother did to try and save the children. They have, though, now charged the woman's boyfriend. His name is Maurice Legron (ph), 28 years old, also from Clinton, charged him with driving under the influence of drugs. And he was driving the car, apparently, when the children wound up in the lake. So, at this point, authorities are trying to piece together exactly what happened. They say that any time there is an incident, like this, they want to be 100 percent sure of just what went on. But at this point, they don't know completely.

And, Daryn, they're telling us now that they may not even know today. They might not have it completely nailed down today. So, we may be waiting a while. And they've also talked about maybe re-creating the incident back out at the lake. We'll keep an eye on it.

Back to you.

KAGAN: Jeff, you mentioned the drugs. Is there any suggestion at this point that it could have been intentional driving into this lake?

FLOCK: I guess, you know, in the shades of Susan Smith that's on everyone's mind when you have a car that winds up in a lake at a boat ramp when there is no boat involved. That's certainly something that comes to people's mind. But I would be very careful in saying that. There is absolutely nothing in terms of evidence that indicates that. I even asked the sheriff last night, 'Is this something that you're looking at as a possible homicide?' And he said at this point that would be going too far to state it that way. So, we want to be very careful about that.

KAGAN: Well, no matter how you describe it, it's a tragedy for this family in the loss of the three young children.

FLOCK: You said it.

KAGAN: Jeff, thank you so much from Clinton, Illinois.

FLOCK: You said it.

KAGAN: Appreciate that.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.