Family Was Searching for Kids Pulled From River

May 24, 2009 — -- When a family in a Portland, Ore., suburb heard the news that a little boy and girl were found floating in the Willamette River Saturday they feared the children might be their missing relatives, police told ABC News.

Screams and moans from the cold Willamette waters led neighbors to call police in the early hours Saturday.

A man who lived in a houseboat nearby said he followed the sounds to the lifeless body of a 4-year-old boy, floating face down, and his 7-year-old sister, still struggling but just barely, and he pulled them from the river.

Although police tried to resuscitate the boy, Eldon Jay Rebhan Smith, he did not survive. The girl, whose identity has not been released, is hospitalized and police said she is expected to survive.

Police trying to identify the two children looked at a missing persons report filed Friday by the father of a little boy and girl, and after hearing from members of the family, police were able to track down the mother, Portland Police Officer Greg Pashley said.

"The family recognized the possibility that this could be some of their relatives, and the family called to give details," Pashley said.

Seven hours after the children were pulled from the frigid water, police found the mother Amanda Jo Stott-Smith in her car on the top level of a downtown Portland parking garage.

As police walked toward her, she tried to jump off the garage's ninth floor before police pulled her back, Pashley said.

Stott-Smith, 31, was charged this morning with aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder.

Pashley said she had previous problems with police. The couple had other children, who are now in protective custody.

Pashley said calls reporting screams first came in at 1 a.m. from both shores of the river by the Sellwood Bridge.

"The calls kept coming in and when officers got there they heard it too," Pashley said. "They said it was indistinguishable from human scream and from -- who knows what."