Investigators say a mother and daughter made a false report of a baby thrown into a Massachusetts river on Christmas Eve, promping an hourslong search.
Haverill police say 42-year-old Holly Fowler and her daughter, 23-year-old Kristine Fowler, both of 170 Washington St., called police around 7:30 p.m. to say they saw and heard a man throw a baby into the Merrimack River from the Comeau Bridge.
State and local police immediately began searching the river, along with firefighters. A state police helicopter and dive team took part in the search.
They kept looking for about two-and-a-half hours before hearing from detectives that the women had allegedly made up the story.
Haverill's fire chief says investigators had to treat the call as serious until confirming it wasn't.
"Tough time of year. You know, we have a lot of suicides this time of year," Chief Jack Parow said. "It's very difficult for some people, so again, we have to take every call like this as a credible call."
The Fowlers were booked on charges of misleading a police investigation and filing a false report. They are in custody and scheduled to be arraigned Monday. It was not immediately clear if they had an attorney.
