NATALIE FAITH HASTY - 2 yo - Lugoff (NE of Columbia) SC

The search for a missing 2-year-old girl was suspended Friday
evening after authorities had spent about five hours looking for
her in and around the Wateree River.



The search for Natalie Faith Hasty of Lugoff is expected to
resume today in and along the river, near the the U.S. 76/378
bridge, on the border of Sumter and Richland counties. Lightning
approaching the area about 8:30 p.m. Friday made it unsafe for
rescue divers to stay in the water.
Maj. Larry Florence of the Sumter County Sheriff's Office said
the search had shifted to primarily the river because "everything
leads us to believe she was in the water." They couldn't find a
sign to indicate whether she still might have been in the water or
on land when the search was suspended.
"Please help me, please," said Natalie's mother, Rachelle
Northcutt, between tears. "I love my baby. I want her back. I want her back so bad."
Northcutt said she was at a friend's house when she got a call
that her daughter was missing.
"Nobody deserves this to happen to them. I never expected to get a call like that," she said.
She said Natalie was at the river with her grandmother and some other family and friends.
"They turned around and she was gone," she said.
Gerald Cooper, whose fiancee is part of the girl's family and
was at the river on Friday, said Natalie was playing on the Sumter
County riverbank when the adults were distracted by two pit bulls that started fighting.
During that incident, a silver pickup truck pulled to the scene, Cooper said.
When the adults looked for Natalie a short time later, she was
gone, leading some family members to believe she had been abducted.
Northcutt said she was told by investigators that eyewitnesses
said the truck simply pulled in and turned around, which is why no
Amber Alert was issued.
"But where could she be?" she asked. "I don't really know. I
just know I miss her and I want her back."
Derek Hasty, Natalie's father, said it feels like "you've lost your whole world."
As night fell Friday, the intense search - literally by land,
sea and air - focused on the Sumter County side of the river. The
effort included people and dogs on land, divers and boats in the
river, and airplanes and helicopters overhead.
Natalie went missing shortly before 3:30 p.m., when law
enforcement and rescue crews from both counties responded to the
report of a "possible drowning," Florence said.
Mike Edmonds Jr., a division chief with the Columbia Fire
Department, which serves all of Richland County, said fire crews
were already at the river doing training exercises, including water
rescue, when the child went missing. He added that some of the
firefighters were "kicking themselves," thinking if they had only
looked or been somewhere just a little different, they might have
seen Natalie and been able to rescue her then.
The river is about 6 to 8 feet deep near the U.S. 76/378 bridge
but has a quick current, according to Florence. Natalie is about 2 feet tall and 30 pounds.
Natalie, who is white, was last seen wearing lavender bloomers,
or short shorts. When she went missing, the family was about to
leave the river, so she was not wearing a life jacket, Cooper said.

The body of the 2-year-old lost in the Wateree River has been found,
according to the Sumter County Coroner.
Officials said at approximately 11:20 AM Saturday, divers were pulled
from the water and the search was called off when the body of Natalie
Hasty was found about a mile from where she disappeared.
The Sumter County Coroner said it appears Hasty died from drowning.
An autopsy is pending. The coroner said there are deep holes in the
Wateree River that she could have stepped in and been swept up into a
rapid. The coroner said it could have taken only a few minutes for her
to be swept away by the strong currents.
Officials searched Friday until dark and began searching again
Saturday morning at 7:30 AM. Officials said they used divers, boats,
DNR's helicopter, and continued to search by land as well.
Natalie Hasty, age 2, was last seen around 3:30 Friday afternoon in
the river, which is at the border of Richland and Sumter Counties.
According to authorities, the child was swimming on the river bank
near the boat dock there with family. Natalie's mother was not present
while the child went missing; however, after arriving to the riverbank, the family was wrapping up their swimming
excursion when the child disappeared. She said a family member was
taking off her life vest when a dog barking startled the family, and in
the commotion, Natalie somehow went missing.

That's it? Was she found to have drown or was there something else going on?