NEWAYGO COUNTY, Mich. — Two women and a child who went missing on the Muskegon River have been found alive, according to Michigan State Police (MSP).Since Tuesday, troopers have been searching for Jazmin Hock, 28, Sarah Vida, 28, and Kayden Kovalcik, 9. The three went tubing, taking off from the Maple Island Boat Launch in Newago County and never returned.”I don’t think they were versed in tubing, and there was no secondary car or destination point for them to exit the river,” MSP Lt. Pat Agema said.Search crews found the trio alive in the woods just after 4:30 p.m. Friday, about a quarter-of-a-mile northeast of the Mill Iron Boat Launch in Muskegon County. “Actually, it’s amazing. It’s a miracle they were located,” Agema said.An investigation into the trio’s disappearance began Wednesday after Vida’s father hadn’t heard from her, went looking and found her car parked at the Maple Island Boat Launch in Newaygo County.Investigators say the passenger side window of Vida’s car had been smashed with a crow bar.”We don’t know if that was a crime of opportunity but that is being investigated too,” Agema said.Multiple agencies assisted MSP with searches, exhausting every resource with K-9 units on the ground, drones in the sky, and boats in the water.On Friday, Agema says a DNR officer noticed footprints alongside the river and heard people yelling for help. A police dog eventually led him to the three missing tubers.“Kept following those foot tracks and sure enough ended up locating them,” Agema said.While MSP is working to learn how the three got stranded, Agema says they couldn’t call anyone for help because their cell phones fell into the river.“They were deep in the woods, there was nothing that was real close to them,” Agema said.The three went without food and water for three days, according to police.“They are tired, they are wore out, two of them had to be carried out of the woods, you know, they were in the wilderness for 72 hours,” Agema said. Both women and the child were taken to the hospital Friday afternoon.”They are in rough shape, but they are alive and safe, and going to be returning to their family,” Agema said. Their families couldn’t be more relieved. “They were so elated, they wanted to jump through the phone and hug us,” Agema said. “Not often does this turn out to be a good outcome and I want to thank all the people that are involved.”Before located the three, investigators had found the pool tubes they used about two miles down the river along with a flip flop they believed belonged to Vida.
