Dogs, Divers, Beachgoers Find No Trace Of 4-Year-Old Family Holds Onto Hope After River Search Fruitless

The search for a 4-year-old girl missing from a crowded Willamette River beach was suspended Monday night.

Divers found no trace of Jessica Nicole Clark in the water off Sellwood Riverfront Park and don’t know where else to look, said Sgt. Brian Martinek of the Multnomah County River Patrol.

“In fact, we don’t have enough information to even conclude that she’s in the water,” Martinek said. “No one saw her go into the water.”

The Milwaukie girl, wearing a yellow bathing suit with cartoon figures on the front and back, was last seen about 2 p.m. Sunday on a beach crowded with 300 to 400 people.

“It’s really strange nobody saw anything,” Deputy Bob White said.

An intense ground search found no clues. Rescue dogs failed to pick up a scent north, south or east of the park. The river marks the park’s western boundary.

That searchers had not found Jessica’s body in the river encouraged her family. “They didn’t find her, so there has to be some hope there that she maybe just got lost,” her great-grandmother Mary Allen told KGW-TV news.

Jessica’s mother, Teresa Clark, told police she took her eyes off the toddler for about 10 minutes while reading a book. When she looked up, the girl was gone.

People at the park quickly began looking for the little girl wearing a yellow bathing suit with a “Tweety Bird” on the front and “Sylvester the Cat” on the back.

“What really makes me feel good … is that at least 30 parents walked up to me and asked me, ‘Have you seen the girl with the Tweety suit?”’ Portland police Sgt. Al Hanley said.

Jessica has dark blonde hair and blue eyes. She is 3 feet tall and weighs 35 pounds.