By JIM SALTER
Associated Press
ST. LOUIS (AP) - Authorities in southern Missouri have identified a 23-year-old single mother who's presumed to have died in recent flooding that also killed her young son.
Pulaski County Sheriff Ron Long said Thursday that 4-year-old Elyjah M. Lee and his mother, Jessica D. Lee, both of Waynesville, were in a car that was swept off a roadway early Tuesday after torrential rains hit the area, flooding streets and damaging homes and businesses.
Long says Jessica Lee made a call from her cell phone about 4:52 a.m. Tuesday saying she was in a "distressed situation." He did not say who Lee called. The vehicle and the child's body were recovered about three hours later in western Waynesville.
Long says the search continues for Jessica Lee's body, but authorities are assuming she's dead.