Authorities continue to investigate Illinois River drowning

Authorities are investigating the death of a Tulsa man whose body was found in the Illinois River during a church-group camping trip. <br/><br/>Investigators say it appears to be an accidental drowning,

Friday, July 1st 2005, 10:40 am

By: News On 6

Authorities are investigating the death of a Tulsa man whose body was found in the Illinois River during a church-group camping trip.

Investigators say it appears to be an accidental drowning, but an incident earlier that evening is raising their suspicions. The victim's family is convinced their loved one's death was no accident.

News on 6 reporter Heather Lewin explains.

"He was compassionate, he was loving, he was caring, he was very thoughtful." 27-year old A Chang was an accomplished student who launched a successful engineering career at a young age according to his cousin Sarah. A respected member of his church and the Hmong community. A was the sole supporter of his mother, sister and 90-year old grandmother. "He hadn't even started to live his life yet; because he wanted to be sure they had all he could give them."

On June 25, he died on a church youth group camping trip. It might have been counted as just a tragic river accident, except for where his body was found and what happened a few hours before he disappeared.

A's cousin Sarah was part of the group of 50 campers. She says despite plenty of room along the river, some men nearby started harassing the group, driving back and forth near the camp, yelling racial slurs. â€œI thought why are they trying to bother us? We are peaceful people, we don't want to cause any trouble, especially when we have a lot of kids there we don't want to cause any trouble so we just tried to ignore them like we didn't hear them."

She says A, oblivious to the incident, went wading with some of the smaller kids. "And he swam with them for a little bit and said he was going to head back towards the camp and that was the last time they saw him." Three hours later, family members called 911. Scenic River Commission rangers searched late into the night and early the next morning, A's body was found in the river. There was no way he could have accidentally drowned, the water was too shallow. Our 8 and 9 and 5 year olds were playing in the water going up and down the stream, no problems at all.â€

Investigators say the body showed no signs of trauma, but for A's family, the timing is too coincidental, they're convinced he was murdered. â€œIt hurts too much to think that someone hurt him or forced him to take his life that way.â€