Barbara Worthy is determined to make sure something good will come of what happened Sunday evening, over a week ago.
Her son Liam Neumann, 34, had been missing since June 25, last seen disappearing into a very turbulent area of Twelve Mile Creek, where he had been rafting with his dog Brodie.
The Niagara Regional Police had already stopped their active search when a member of the public reported seeing a body Sunday, and police were able to locate and recover it, caught on a long tree limb hanging out over the creek.
But by Tuesday afternoon, Worthy still hadn’t had confirmation from the police — they would not make an identification until they had results from an autopsy being conducted in Toronto, and Worthy was told it might not be until Wednesday or even later this week — “hopefully before the end of the week,” before she heard.
That leaves his family and friends in a “holding pattern,” says Worthy.
“We’ve been in a holding pattern since Sunday. All we can do is wait,” she told The Local.
She says she’s been told red hair and red facial hair could be seen on the body. “How many gingers were there in Twelve Mile Creek?” she asks. But she knew it was him, she says, even before hearing that information.
Helping to keep her going is the determination to prevent something similar from happening to some other family.
“Something has to change,” she says.
She knows Liam had climbed out of the inflatable dingy, and he tried to get back to Brodie, to save him. Liam was seen going under the water, and didn’t resurface. Brodie and the raft drifted to Henley Island and were recovered.
Worthy says Liam must have entered the creek in a quiet spot, and got into trouble in the most turbulent part of the waterway. She believes more needs to be done to create awareness of how dangerous the area can be, and to prevent rafters from being able to enter the water.
The location also made it difficult and dangerous for searchers — the police were hampered both by turbulence and the water level, which was eventually lowered by Ontario Power Generation, allowing marine unit officers to get to the area and recover his body.