SAVANNAH, Mo. — High school students in the small community of Savannah, just north of Saint Joseph, are dealing with the tough losses of two of their classmates.
Both boys drowned Saturday when they apparently fell through thin ice on a frozen pond on county road 153 about 10 miles northwest of Savannah.
At Savannah High School and all around town there are lots of heavy hearts. People are thinking about two students who suddenly died and their now grieving families.
“It’s extremely devastating to a community like this,” said Sonya Hines a resident of Savannah, Missouri which is about 10 miles north of St. Joseph.
“We must now rally around the two boys’ families and love them and get them through this,” said Jennifer Sticken a longtime friend of the family of Andre Lance.
Around 7:30 Saturday night investigators with the Andrews County Sheriff’s Office say they learned that Andre Lance and his buddy, Tyler Brandt were missing and never returned home after being at a rural area farm just northwest of Savannah.
Deputies first found the vehicle the boys drove that night. They soon spotted a huge hole in the ice in the nearby pond about 40 feet from the bank along County Road 153.
A search team later found both boys dead in the partially frozen pond investigators say was covered with two inches of ice.
“It’s very heartbreaking for all of us here. The anguish I’m feeling right now is deep and they’re not even my children and I just can’t imagine having that kind of loss of someone so young,” said Hines.
Eight grief counselors were at Savannah High School Monday helping students cope with the sudden losses of their friends and classmates.
“If students need to leave class, if they need to talk to somebody, if they need to be somewhere, we’re trying to let them dictate what they need at this point, and, we’re just trying to be there to support them, ” Savannah High’s Principal told FOX 4’s Robert Townsend during an interview Monday.
Coughlin says Andre Lance was the school’s mascot and very outgoing. Tyler Brandt is being remembered as more reserved, quiet and a lover of agriculture.
Friends say both boys had big smiles that would light up any room.
