Russell Hileman died helping attempt to save Josey L. and Tara M. Wood from drowning, Camden, Ohio, June 6, 2001. Josey, 10, and her sister Tara, 11, were at a gravel pit lake on a fishing outing with their father and others, including their father’s friend, Hileman, 37, service technician. Playing at the mouth of a stream that emptied into the lake, Josey was carried into the deeper water of the lake, as was Tara. The girls struggled to remain afloat as the current pulled them farther from the bank. They shouted for help. Fishing nearby from the bank, Hileman immediately entered the water and swam to the girls. He grasped them and held one in each arm as the three struggled to stay at the surface of the water. Alerted on the opposite bank, the girls’ father then entered the lake and began to swim to them, but he submerged en route. Hileman and the girls also submerged. Their bodies were found the next day, and that of the father was found two days later. All four drowned.
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