The banks of the Red River where it crosses from Miller County to Hempstead County are steep and treacherous, with craggy sand cliffs and deep sinkholes created by sand that is constantly on the move.
Dense briers grow straight into the waterline, making for perilous and painful travel for even the most seasoned explorer.
But every day since Feb. 8, Deloris Burris has been gripping the concrete piling that supports the Interstate 30 bridge above as she hesitantly traverses down the 45-degree sandy slope tothe Red’s edge. There, she peers closely along the river’s curvy lines and scans the thickets.
She hasn’t been back to work at Tyson Food’s Texarkana plant since her daughter, Janice Northcross, 42, went over the bridge and into the Red’s icy clutches.
THE ACCIDENT
Northcross was last seen at 1:55 a.m. on Feb. 8. She was standing on the eastbound side of the I-30 bridge, helping her sister, Katherine Burris, 41, direct traffic around the disabled vehicle of their co-worker, Ricky Norwood.
Before Northcross left her Ashdown home that morning to drive to work at the Firestone plant in Prescott, her husband, Eddie Northcross, said she checked the weather forecast for an update on the condition of icy roads. The three co-workers normally work the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift, but on the day of the accident they were going to work the 3-11 a.m. shift.
As they often did when the weather got dicey, Janice Northcross and her sister stayed in contact by telephone as they drove from Arkansas 59 onto the interstate.
“The roads weren’t bad that morning. It was just the bridges,” Eddie Northcross said.
On the bridge that connects Miller and Hempstead counties, Norwood’s blue, 2009 Chevy Silverado truck spun out of control and slammed into the concrete railing. Norwood immediately called his co-workers to warn them about the hazardous conditions.
When Janice Northcross reached the bridge, she pulled her white 2000 Honda Accord in front of Norwood’s truck, and her sister parked her red 2004 Chevy Impala directly behind the truck, essentially blocking him in.
The sisters directed interstate traffic around the crashed vehicle.
Then Burris said she heard someone yell “Oh, sh**!” She turned to see a jackknifed tractor-trailer barreling toward them. She dropped to the ground and watched helplessly as the truck careened into the stopped vehicles, scattering them across the bridge.
“When I got up, I could hear someone below the bridge yelling for help,” Burris told investigators.
Norwood is quoted in the Arkansas State Police accident report as saying he and Northcross jumped from the railing into the river to avoid being hit by the truck.
“As soon as I surfaced, I swam as hard as I could to the riverbank,” Norwood said in the report. “When I got out of the water, I could hear Janice screaming, ‘Help. Help me.’ Then I didn’t hear her anymore.”
Eddie Northcross said he does not believe that his wife jumped voluntarily from the bridge. She didn’t know how to swim, he said.
But she did know the Red River.
“I know, because I know my wife. She would not have made that decision to jump. Not in the Red River,” he said.
As first cousins, Denise King of Ogden said she and Janice Northcross spent their childhoods on the many waterways surrounding Texarkana.
But never on the Red.
“I’ve known my cousin for more than 40 years. I wouldn’t jump, so I know she wouldn’t jump,” King said. “Everybody knows about the Red River.”
THE RED
The Red River winds east for nearly 1,300 miles from two forks in the Texas panhandle. It takes a south turn in Hempstead County, near Fulton before flowing through Louisiana and emptying into the Mississippi River.
The Red’s sandy bottom differs from the rocky depths of most rivers.
That sand has earned the Red a deadly reputation, said Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Capt. Jackie Runion.
Runion and Miller County Office of Emergency Management Director Larry Pritchett were among the first on the scene as the search for Janice Northcross began. Their teams were joined by searchers from the Hempstead County sheriff’s office, the Miller County Volunteer Fire Department, the Miller County sheriff’s office, and wardens from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
“Red’s unique,” Runion said, leaning forward and shaking his head as he sat in the Emergency Management office in Miller County. He stretched his left hand out flat to mimic the river’s sandy base, then twirled his right index finger above it.
“You get these big whirlpools, and it pushes all of that sand into huge mounds,” Runion said.
Pritchett leaned back in his chair and flung his arms out to each side.
“The Red is famous for being so sandy. You can lay in the river, just sit there. You could get up and watch your imprint just sand over. It’s that sandy,” Pritchett said.
Indeed, during his flight over the search area with Texarkana helicopter pilot Don Ruggles, Pritchett said he had many a hope dashed when objects spotted along the banks turned out to be cattle that had wandered too close to the Red’s sandy edges and got hopelessly stuck.
The Red River’s reputation has spanned generations.
It was the river’s exposed snags and sandbars that proved too powerful a foe in 1864 for Union troops attempting to push into Texas during the Civil War. Union Gen. Nathaniel Prentiss Banks is said to have argued that the river was too dangerous to be used as an invasion route, but he was overruled by two other Union officers, and the mission later failed.
Pritchett - who grew up in Texarkana and spent nearly three decades as a firefighter - said he had never been on the Red River before last summer.
Last June, he led a search team for three fishermen who fell into the Red River after attempting to anchor their boat in the river’s shifting base. Julia Lopez, who was wearing a life jacket, made it to the shore. Bill Cooper’s body was found six days later, caught in a logjam 10 miles downstream. John Fairbanks’ body has never been found.
“I do not like the Red River. I respect the Red River, but I do not like her,” Pritchett said. “It’s a very dangerous river.”
THE SEARCH
At 2 a.m. Feb. 8, it was dark, and the temperature was below freezing. At the accident site, the riverbank’s terrain made it too dangerous for putting boats into the water, and the nearest launch ramp was upstream at Allen’s Ferry - a 45-degree-angle, 100-feet-long strip that was covered with ice.
It wasn’t until daybreak that boats were launched in the search area. Using high-resolution sonars, rescuers dragged the river for the half-mile from the bridge to the area just under a Texas pipeline that stretches over the waterway.
Pritchett and Runion made the decision early on not to put divers in the water at that time.
“If you put a diver in the water, you might as well put a blindfold on a person and let them wander out in a field. It was just too dangerous,” Runion said.
Numerous agencies and volunteers from all over the state participated in the search.
Searches were conducted from the air, several boats were put into the water and teams with cadaver dogs have searched repeatedly in the area. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dropped the water flow from the Millwood Lake spillway to make navigation easier and to expose some of the river’s dangerous debris for the rescuers.
The freezing weather,damage to boats from the Red River’s debris, unforgiving geology and river levels that fluctuated from too high to too low hampered the efforts.
The official search lasted eight days. Pritchett suspended it on the afternoon of Feb. 15. Since then, Runion has sporadically placed Arkansas Game and Fish Commission boats in the water and crews along the Red’s banks as often as time and resources allow. The cadaver dogs have continued to make outings there.
Meanwhile, Deloris Burris, Eddie Northcross, and numerous relatives and friends keep daily vigil at the edges of the Red River.
The family quickly bonded with Hempstead County Sheriff James Singleton. They said he gave them up-to-the minute updates with compassion and respect - even though Hempstead County technically did not have jurisdiction in the case. Singleton and his deputies even set up a central command post for the family and had meals carried to the site.
“He’s just a good man. It’s that simple. He’s just a good man,” Eddie Northcross said.
King and Eddie Northcross said the family is disappointed over the limited duration of the search, and they feel like the Red River’s treacherous reputation played into some of the rescue leaders’ thinking.
“I feel like they gave up before they even entered the water. I really do,” Eddie Northcross said. “They expected the worst before they ever went in.”
There has been no sign of Janice Northcross since she went into the river, save for a pair shoes that the family has verified belonged to her.
HOPE AND FAITH
Eddie Northcross swayed back and forth on a park bench in Texarkana as he reminisced about his wife, his arms hugged tightly around his chest.
Myriad emotions crossed his face - from bridled rage to calm acceptance; from grim sadness to wide-open laughter - as he recalled their courtship that began in 1995 and expressed his unwavering devotion to getting his wife back home.
Above all, he said, Janice Northcross was a great mother to the couple’s two children, a 3-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl.
His wife had a strong, compassionate spirit and was always helping others, he said.
And Janice Northcross had sass.
“She was very, very independent. Sometimes too independent,” Eddie Northcross said, loosening his folded arms slightly and laughing. “I’m talking she would change her own oil. She would check her own oil. If she had a flat on the side of the road, she wasn’t waiting for anybody to come help her. She’d get out there and change her own flat. Very independent. I can’t stress that enough.”
King laughed at the description, then talked about her cousin’s sense of adventure and joyful attitude.
“She always had that million-dollar smile,” King said. “Her laughter was wild and contagious and free.”
Both King and Eddie Northcross suddenly grew somber. The family will never give up the search, they said.
And Eddie Northcross said he knows his wife will be home soon.
“I miss her so much. I believe in God. And he’s never failed me,” he said. “He’s never let me down. I trust in him.”
Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/02/2014