Kansas City Teen Dies While Preparing to Jump Into Water in Freak Accident at Missouri State Park

An 18-year-old from Kansas City died after she fell 60 feet from a bluff at a popular state park in Missouri Saturday, CBS News reported.

Mariah Schramm died of an apparent head injury Saturday afternoon after slipping from the rocky bluffs in Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park, leading her to fall into the Black River, KMOV-TV reported.

Witnesses told park rangers that Schramm "seemed to indicate she was hesitant" to jump, according to Col. Tom Dresner, chief ranger with the Missouri State Parks. He said at about 3 p.m. Saturday, "she ended up losing her footing and slipping and hitting the rocks on the way down.”

He added that the water in Black River is deep enough that if someone were to jump far enough they can land without hitting the rocks and avoiding serious injury.

"But she fell so close to the edge she ended up hitting her head on a rock shelf that was slightly below the surface of the water," he said.

Dresner said that revelers frequently ignore trespassing signs at the spot to gain access to the bluffs and jump into the river. He added that the park writes tickets for trespassing, although no park rangers were policing that area when Schramm died.

"The park covers 9,400 acres and is regularly patrolled by up to three Missouri State Parks rangers, though not always at the same time," Brian Quinn of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources said. "While there were no park rangers policing the bluffs when Schramm died, there were rangers on duty at other areas of the park."

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