Family making funeral plans for 4-year-old Burleson boy killed in floodwaters
BURLESON — Chelsey Warren said sleep hasn't come easy since Sunday morning. She and her husband, Aaron Warren, lost their only son, Lucas Warren, in fast-moving floodwaters.
The 31-year-old wife and mother said they had left Lucas' grandparents' home where they were watching a movie. It was an ordinary drive on a rainy morning just before 2 a.m.
"And in the dark, it looked just kind of like a little bit of a stream, but not anything rushing," Chelsey Warren said. "And I couldn't see the water on the sides of the creek that were rushing."
Johnson County Emergency responders said the incident was on County Road 528.
"This bridge right up here has a gate that closes that says 'Water over Bridge' and it closes to block it off," she said. "And the gate wasn't shut."
Chelsey Warren said she and her husband saw another vehicle drive through the water without issues, but halfway across the bridge, the ordinary drive got intense.
"The car battery died, and the car started filling up with water. So, we grabbed what we could, grabbed Lucas out of his car seat," Chelsey Warren said.
The family's path to get out seemed realistic until they tried making it through. The muscles of the floodwaters started to flex.
"And it swept my husband down first. And he got taken off, and I couldn't find him," She said. "I grabbed Lucas."
She said her 4-year-old son held on as she tried to stabilize their position. Her goal was to get them to safety at all costs, but the water's strength resisted the mission as the Burleson woman trod water for two hours, she said.
"And every branch we held on to, it broke. And we'd go under for 20, 30 seconds and come back up," Chelsey Warren said. "And I was telling him (Lucas), it's okay, it's okay, it's okay. You know, stay on my back. Don't let go. Whatever you do, don't let go."
Chelsey Warren said she'd reached a tree to stabilize her stance and readjust her grip on her son, and then devastation rose like the flood.
"And a current came so fast, and it came up, and he just let go. And he didn't mean to--he just let go," she said. "And I didn't hear him call out for me, or I didn't hear him say anything. He just went under."
Chelsey Warren said twenty minutes later, the rescue crew got her and her husband out of the water. They both needed treatment. Her husband's legs were injured. But there was no sign of Lucas Warren.
Around 7:30 a.m. Sunday morning, the family got closure and bad news simultaneously. Lucas' body got recovered, but he did not survive.
"And he just looked peaceful--and he wasn't torn up--and his clothes were intact like he didn't get stuck on anything," she said. "He just must have gone under and gone to sleep, and he was probably so tired."
She said so much happened so quickly. Last week, they sent out birthday invitations because their son was turning five. The plan was to go to a trampoline park, eat pizza, and have a good time with his cousins. Now, they are planning a funeral.
His father's birthday is Tuesday, May 7, but he is likely in no mood to celebrate. Warren said she misses her son's bright energy. She reflected on the "100 kisses" mornings.
According to Chelsey Warren, Lucas Warren would rapidly kiss her and ask, "How many?"
"I'd say sixty," she said. "And he'd start kissing on me again until I couldn't take the slobber any longer."
She said Lucas's hide-and-seek moments with dad will be missed. Their little one, she said, had a way of blaming his stuffed toys for various things "he never did."
The family launched a GoFundMe to offset funeral expenses, get therapy, and navigate costs they'd never expected to pay.
The couple did not think fertility would work in their favor. It did. Lucas was named after his father's best friend, who unexpectedly succumbed to colon cancer when Warren got pregnant.
The young namesake is gone too soon as well.
"If this is the least that I can do is tell other people, like, hey, it doesn't matter if it doesn't look that deep, please don't drive through it," Chelsey Warren said.