The search for the bodies of a mother who reportedly threw her two young children over Niagara Falls and then jumped herself on October 28th is slowing down. The tragic incident occurred at Luna Island - a small island situated between the American and Bridal Veil Falls connected to Goat Island - where 33-year-old Chianti Means was with her children.
According to reports, police received a call around 9pm alerting them that Means had gone over the safety guard rail at the falls with her nine-year-old son, Roman Rossman, and five-month-old daughter, Mecca Means.
Trooper James O’Callaghan, a spokesperson for the New York State Park Police, confirmed that the mother’s decision to jump with her children was intentional.
“They went there and they never came out,” O’Callaghan stated during a press briefing on October 30th.
Witness testimonies have raised concerns about the circumstances leading up to the fall, with reports suggesting that the 9-year-old was forced to go over the edge by his mother.
“It is alarming what they told us,” O’Callaghan remarked, highlighting the complexity of the situation.
While the investigation is ongoing, O’Callaghan noted that determining the motivations behind such actions can be challenging.
“Based on the information we have, we do know it was an intentional act, but the reason why is tougher to answer,” he said.
Recovery efforts to find the bodies were extensive but have reportedly yielded no results. Search teams had been scouring the lower Niagara River for any signs of the victims deploying boats along the river and utilizing drones and helicopters to assist in the search. Volunteers had also been using binoculars to scan the shoreline.
The powerful currents of the river pose a significant challenge. Bodies that go over the falls are often carried downstream with many victims washing up at the Niagara Falls Power Vista or further into Lake Ontario. Sadly, some are never found at all. The unrelenting torrent of water crashing down from the American Falls oftentimes rips apart bodies stuck in the jagged rocks below making recovery even more difficult.
The most recent evidence of this is with Saniyya Davis - a Buffalo State student who went missing in 2021 and was suspected of taking her own life at the same exact location as Means did here. There, only her head was recovered.
Niagara Action wrote an in-depth article on the challenges of recovering bodies that go over the falls - particularly the American Falls shortly after the incident: https://www.niagaraaction.com/tragic-reality-of-jumping-into-niagara-falls-recovery-efforts-and-the-force-of-nature
25 to 40 bodies reportedly go over Niagara Falls each year - most without public awareness.
Means' cousin, Bierra Hamilton, has given multiple interviews and revealed that Means did not end her life due to a relationship issue as some speculated online.
“Understand this — postpartum [depression] is very real and needs a cure,” Hamilton stated. “Her death wasn’t over a man. My cousin was silently fighting depression alone.”
Means, who worked as a domestic violence counselor and graduated from a school in Buffalo, had given birth to baby Mecca just five months prior. Hamilton described her cousin as having a “beautiful soul” who loved her children and family deeply.
This heartbreaking incident echoes a similar event from February 2023 when a mother jumped holding her five-year-old son and fell approximately 90 feet into the Niagara Gorge. There, the mother did not survive while the young boy was stabilized and treated for a head injury at Oishei Children's Hospital.
Search for Bodies Slowing Down for Mother who Threw Children over Niagara Falls and then Jumped