GRAND RAPIDS, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – The second of two missing person stories from the New Years Day holiday along the Lakeshore has now been concluded.
A forensic autopsy conducted on Friday at Spectrum-Blodgett Hospital confirmed the identity of Eliza Jane Trainer. The 16-year-old from the Flint suburb of Flushing was with 18-year-old Kade Goodrich on the north pier at Holland State Park late on New Years Day when a wave swept both of them into the waters of Lake Michigan.
Goodrich was able to reach land and called for help, but an extensive search at the time, hampered by strong winds that kept waves at dangerous heights, hampered efforts to find Trainer. On Thursday evening, a body was found in the rocks next to the pier, and it took several hours for first responders to remove the body that was pinned from a 12-by-12 inch hole by several large boulders.
The Ottawa County Medical Examiner’s Office, who conducted the autopsy, ruled that the case of Trainer’s death was by drowning, and foul play is not suspected.
Two weeks ago, private searchers found the body of Hunter Klompstra, an 18-year-old Coopersville man who was last seen early on New Year’s Day after leaving a party. His body was discovered in some water off of Leonard Street west of 60th Avenue, not far from the Grand River, and in the vicinity of where Klompstra was last seen.
