A drowning tragedy occurred yesterday morning at the creek in Lark Creek. The body of a ten-year-old girl, Leslie Burke, was found in the creek late yesterday morning, a few metres away from a broken rope tied to a tree. Her parents, Mr Bill Burke and Mrs Judy Burke are distraught at their only daughter’s demise.
Yesterday morning, the girl informed her parents that she was going for a morning walk with her pet dog, Prince Terrien and would return shortly. A while later, her pet dog ran back to her house without Leslie barking and wanted her parents to follow it. The dog led them to the creek and started howling at the creek full of water and strong currents. Leslie was nowhere to be found. Mr Burke spotted a broken rope suspended from a tree and sensed that something was amiss. He immediately informed the police and a search was carried out around the vicinity.
A few hours later, her body was found resting in the creek bed. An ambulance which had been summoned arrived and the paramedics tried to resuscitate the girl but to no avail. She was found too late. The police deduced that Leslie might have wanted to explore the forest on the opposite bank of the creek and used the rope which was found to be old,
loose and weak, to swing across the creek. Unfortunately, the frail rope broke halfway and she must have suffered from a concussion when she hit her head on a rock and drowned.
When the reporters arrived on the scene in the afternoon, the deceased’s parents were too distraught to be interviewed. They then tried to get information about the Burkes from their neighbours, the Aarons. Mr and Mrs Aarons were interviewed and the reporters found out that the Burkes moved into Lark Creek a few months ago but they rarely interacted with them.. Their only son, Jesse Aarons was the best friend of the deceased. He had received the bad news and was in his room, also too shocked and distraught to be interviewed. The reporters also found out more information on Leslie from the Aarons’ 2nd youngest daughter, May Belle Aarons, who was also a friend of Leslie’s.
“Leslie was a very friendly, clever, athletic and outgoing girl. It was fun to play with her as she was very imaginative. She was a wonderful friend. Unfortunately, she was shunned by many of our schoolmates as she dressed differently from all of them due to the fact that she came from the city. Her pet dog, Prince Terrien was a Christmas present from my brother, Jesse. I am sad that she is dead now.” replied May Belle, sniffling at the last sentence.