{"id":25740,"date":"2026-08-03T02:18:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T21:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=25740"},"modified":"2026-08-03T02:18:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T21:18:19","slug":"teen-found-dead-after-going-missing-while-rafting-in-picturesque-california-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=25740","title":{"rendered":"Teen found dead after going missing while rafting in picturesque California park"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F08%2FCOMP-2-1.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A search-and-recovery operation ended in tragedy Sunday afternoon after authorities located the body of a missing 17-year-old boy in the Stanislaus River.<\/p>\n<p>Emergency personnel first responded to reports of a swimmer in distress Saturday afternoon at Caswell Memorial State Park in San Joaquin County.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Emergency personnel first responded to reports of a swimmer in distress Saturday afternoon at Caswell Memorial State Park. <span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of California State Parks, 2026<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Because crews from the Ripon Consolidated Fire Department were <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/01\/us-news\/fast-moving-wildfire-explodes-in-northern-california-as-urgent-evacuation-orders-issued\/\">actively battling a vegetation fire<\/a> at the time, the Manteca Fire Department initially stepped in to handle the dispatch.<\/p>\n<p>The victim has been identified by family members as Gabriel Santiago.<\/p>\n<p>His mother told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kcra.com\/article\/child-missing-caswell-memorial-state-park\/73327121\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">KCRA<\/a> that Gabriel was out with friends when the incident occurred and described him as a loving child.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Santiago was rafting when he went underwater and failed to resurface, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/07\/20\/real-estate\/seven-small-towns-are-booming-in-california-bucking-exodus\/\">San Joaquin County<\/a> Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<div class=\"single__inline-module inline-module inline-module--newsletter aligncenter inline-module--nypostbusinessunit aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-newsletter\" data-source-unit=\"Inline Newsletter Module Cali - Morning Report\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__inner\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__title-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"inline-module__unsubmitted-title-wrapper\">\n<h3 class=\"inline-module__title headline headline--combo-sm-md\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for the California Morning Report newsletter\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<p class=\"inline-module__cta\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCalifornia&#8217;s top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><h3 class=\"inline-module__title headline headline--combo-sm-md\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\t\t\t\t\t<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The 17-year-old victim has been identified by family members as Gabriel Santiago. <span class=\"credit\">Obtained by the CA Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>First responders launched a multi-agency search around 4 p.m. Saturday, scouring the river and shoreline until dark.<\/p>\n<p>Operations resumed Sunday morning and continued into the afternoon before searchers recovered his body.<\/p>\n<p>The San Joaquin County Sheriff\u2019s Office is leading the ongoing investigation into the drowning, supported by its Boating Safety Unit, Unmanned Aircraft System drone team, and Ripon Fire personnel.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>First responders launched a multi-agency search around 4 p.m. Saturday, scouring the river and shoreline until dark. <span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of California State Parks, 2026<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters <\/strong><\/h2>\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<p><strong>California Post News<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheCaliforniaPost\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/californiapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@CaliforniaPost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TikTok<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/californiapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">X<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@thecaliforniapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whatsapp.com\/channel\/0029Vb6a2IV1NCrL6q2AWq0E\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WhatsApp<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/linkedin.com\/company\/californiapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a><br \/><strong>California Post Sports<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/capostsports\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/capostsports\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Instagram<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@capostsports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TikTok<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@CaliforniaPostSports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">YouTube<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/capostsports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">X<\/a><br \/><strong>California Post  <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/californiapost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Opinion<\/a> <br \/><strong>California Post Newsletters<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/email.nypost.com\/#california-post\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sign up here!<\/a><br \/><strong>California Post App<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/california-post\/id6751343487\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Download here!<\/a><br \/><strong>Home delivery<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/subscribe.californiapost.com\/defaultCAP\">Sign up here!<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/california-post\/id6751343487\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/><\/a><strong>Page Six Hollywood<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/hollywood-signup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sign up here!<\/a><\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A search-and-recovery operation ended in tragedy Sunday afternoon after authorities located the body of a missing 17-year-old boy in the Stanislaus River. Emergency personnel first responded to reports of a swimmer in distress Saturday afternoon at Caswell Memorial State Park in San Joaquin County. Emergency personnel first responded to reports of a swimmer in distress&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25741,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/COMP-2-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}