missing child greenville county: The body of an 8-year-old child who went missing from Bell’s Crossing Elementary School in Greenville County has been found. Lionel Ramirez Cervantes was discovered in a pond near Lake Lennox Drive on Thursday afternoon.
Search Efforts and Discovery
Lionel was last seen at the school around 11:10 a.m. He was in a classroom with two other students and three staff members when he suddenly ran out of the room and then out of the building. Staff members chased him, but he quickly disappeared into a grassy field.
The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office reported that Lionel’s body was found by a dive team shortly after 3 p.m., about four hours later. The exact cause of how he ended up in the pond is not yet known.
Community Response
Sheriff Hobart Lewis expressed the community’s grief, saying, “A lot of broken hearts in the school and this community today. We want to thank this community that came out to look for this young man. We had numerous volunteers show up to help search the woods to locate him.”
Law enforcement agencies from across the Upstate, including SLED and the FBI, assisted in the search. Many local residents also helped search the neighborhoods around the school.
School and Community Support
Greenville County Schools Superintendent Dr. Burke Royster announced that counselors would be available for students and staff at Bell’s Crossing Elementary. “Words are just not sufficient to describe this tragedy,” Royster said. “Our hearts and prayers are with this family, this community, with this school community.”
Chris Ross, the principal of Bell’s Crossing Elementary School, expressed the collective grief: “This was our worst fear today, and we are grieving as a community. We are devastated to lose one of our children. We will bind together with the support of the district. It’s a tragedy we can’t make sense of.”
Investigation and Future Steps
Sheriff Lewis stated that there were no indications at this time that any charges would be filed. The investigation into how Lionel ended up in the pond is ongoing.
The community of Greenville County is mourning this loss deeply. The tragic event has united the school and local community as they cope with the loss of a young student.
