Lynn mother Melissa Bagley drowns in Franconia Falls, NH trying to save 10-year-old son
LINCOLN, N.H. - Melissa Bagley, a 44-year-old mother from Lynn and the wife of a police officer, drowned trying to save her 10-year-old-son in New Hampshire.
Investigators said Bagley's family and a friend hiked to Franconia Falls Tuesday afternoon when the boy slipped and fell into the water. He couldn't get out because of the current so his mother went into the river to get him. She started to have trouble and two of her other children jumped in to help. They got the boy out, but his 18-year-old brother ended up trapped in the rocks and current.
The father, Everett Police Lt. Sean Bagley, found his wife on a rock and immediately began CPR but she died. He was able to save his 18-year-old son. The teen was was later taken to Littleton Hospital for treatment.
"I think that's in a mother, that's what a mother would do. When you see your child in distress, you don't think, you act," said Maureen McDonnell, who attends St. John the Evangelist Church in Swampscott with the family. "Her bravery is amazing and it's so sad it ended the way it did."
The area is notorious for its fast current this time of year. Just a few weeks ago, Wayne Harvey was visiting the area when he said he pulled a man who was struggling to swim out of the current.
"It can be dangerous if you don't know what to expect," said Wayne Harvey in New Hampshire. "The water was moving faster than in the last couple of years that we've been there, it's faster, it's higher, it was really cold and it would only take a second for something to go wrong."
"While we appreciate all those who have reached out we ask that Lt Bagley and his family be given the time and space to mourn the death of Melissa," Everett Police said in a statement on Facebook.
In the family's neighborhood in Lynn, neighbors told WBZ TV they're devastated by Bagley's death.
"The whole family, they travel together, they get up in the morning and they play," said neighbor Barbara Cheney. "They're so tight, all she does is take care of the kids."
"I can't believe it, I'm freaked out," said another neighbor, France Nicole Bouchard. "She was so active with the children and very athletic. It doesn't surprise me she passed trying to save one of her children."
New Hampshire State Police are asking anyone with information that could help their investigation to call them at (603) 227-2115 or (603) 846-3333.
