One year after the tragic drowning of three children at Tonto Creek, Arizona, the parents of the victims have been indicted in connection with their deaths.
Daniel and Lacey Rawlings were accused of three counts of reckless manslaughter and seven counts of child abuse for driving around barricades in the flooded creek with their truck carrying seven small children.
On Nov. 29, 2019, Daniel bypassed the barricades placed to turn cars away from the creek after heavy rain and by doing so, got caught up in the floods that swept away the track.
Two of his three children, Colby and Willa, drowned along with their cousin Austin. The couple and four other children were rescued by helicopter.
It took hours to recover the bodies of Colby and Austin, both 5, from the waters but Willa’s remains weren’t located until Dec. 13, weeks later and miles away, on the edge of a lake.
And as rescuers were looking for his 6-year-old daughter’s corpse, Daniel came out with a disturbing statement: “I will say one thing: People go around the barricades all the time. I’m not justifying my actions one bit. There could be more done.”
Lacey Rawlings echoed Daniel’s claims and defended him: “Everybody’s a critic, and they’re keyboard warriors. Those people may not have ever gone through something tragic in their life.”
