Ryan Rames took his beloved dog Sammie for a walk as he normally would on a Saturday morning in his neighborhood in Minooka, southwest of Joliet.
The year-old Yorkie-Shih Tzu mix weighed only 8 pounds, and his 11-year-old master made sure she got her exercise no matter how bad the weather. When Ryan didn’t return after 45 minutes, his family set out to find him, then called authorities.
Searchers quickly spotted footprints and pawprints through the snow-covered ground leading to a large, L-shaped retention area down the street from the family’s house on the 1400 block of Hauby Court. By 1:45 p.m. or so, divers had pulled out the bodies of both Ryan and the dog.
A Minooka retention pond where an 11-year-old boy and his dog were found. (Photo courtesy of Jim Furlan)
The boy’s mother, Danielle Vieshov, said she thinks the dog went onto the retention pond and Ryan went after her.
“He took her out no matter what. He loved that dog. He went after instead of just letting her go in,” she said Saturday evening between tears.
Grundy County Coroner John W. Callahan said it appeared the ice gave way as the boy and his dog neared the center of the pond.
The boy had the dog on leash when he left yesterday, as he always did, said his stepfather, Will Vieshov. The leash was the extendable kind. He said the family thinks the boy must have lost grip on the handle, allowing the dog to run off, then chased after Sammie as she went into the pond.
The Vieshovs and other residents of the Lakewood Trails subdivision questioned why aerators in the pond were turned on this winter, leaving some of the water unfrozen. In previous winters, the aerators were off and the pond was solid ice, said Lakewood Trails resident Rico Soave. The pond also had a couple inches of snow on it.
“I know he shouldn’t have been out on the ice, but I also know the pumps shouldn’t have been on in the winter,” Vieshov said. “If those pumps wouldn’t have been on, would my son be here now, laughing and playing Wii bowling? There’s no way to know.”
Ryan, a fifth-grader at Minooka Intermediate School, ran cross country for the first time in the fall, but family said his real passion was amateur wrestling. “He was only 58 pounds, but he could kick some butt,” his mother said.
“He had such a good heart. He loved everybody,” Vieshov said. “He was so fun to be around, he just lit up every room he entered. He had no cares in the world.”
Vieshov also offered some advice for parents.
“Just treat every day like it’s your last. Always tell your kids you love them when they go out the door because you never know if they’re going to come back,” she said.
–Dan Simmons
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Police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli. Hospital information for the man and woman could not be verified.
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