Mariah Brielle Schramm Kansas City Missouri teen girl plunges to her death at Johnson’s Shut-Ins state park. Warning signs forbid entry to the area.
A Missouri teen girl died after slipping from the top of rocky bluffs at a state park, and incurring a fatal head injury authorities said. The girl’s death over the weekend comes despite warning signs not to enter the area.
Mariah Brielle ‘Elle’ Schramm, 18, of Kansas City was swimming with friends Saturday at Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park in Reynolds County on Saturday when she climbed to the top of a rock and fell 50ft into the Black River, KSDK reported.
‘She was reluctant, lost her balance, lost her footing, slipped and fell approximately 50 feet,’ said Colonel Thomas G. Dresner, chief ranger of the Missouri State Park Rangers.
Witnesses told park rangers that Schramm ‘seemed to indicate she was hesitant’ to jump.
Dresner said that water is deep enough there to avoid hitting the the rocks below, but she fell so close to the edge that she ‘ended up hitting her head on a rock shelf that was slightly below the surface of the water.’ She suffered a head injury and was pronounced dead at the scene, Dresner said.
Visitors ignore no trespassing signs
Dresner said there had been signs warning visitors not to go in the area where she fell.
‘There are no trespassing signs posted. We don’t allow anybody to go up there,’ he said.
People frequently ignore trespassing signs at the spot to gain access to the bluffs and jump into the river, Dresner told AP. The chief ranger said that the park writes tickets for trespassing, although no park rangers were policing that area when Schramm died.
An obituary said Schramm was going to be a senior at Truman High School in Kansas City. Her funeral is scheduled for Friday in Lee’s Summit, Missouri.
Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park is in Middlebrook, about 100 miles southwest of St. Louis.
