911 Dispatcher Tracy Wilson Learns Drowning Call Victim Was Her Son

Worst Nightmare: 911 Dispatcher Learns Drowning Victim Was Her Son

Emergency dispatcher Tracy Wilson experienced true horror earlier this week, when she learned that the victim in a call she handled was in fact her 17-year-old son.

The teenager, Mitchel Krause, was on a fishing expedition with friends at Rock Cut State Park on Tuesday, just south of the Illinois-Wisconsin border. When Wilson started receiving 911 calls about a drowning in the park, she told the Peoria Journal-Star that she refused to imagine that it was her son. "As a dispatcher, you can't think that way," Wilson said.

But when she received a call from a police officer in nearby Loves Park, Illinois, she knew that something terrible had happened.

Krause's canoe apparently tipped over, submerging him under the water. He was below for around 30 to 40 minutes, and was pronounced dead at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

He had just finished his junior year of high school, according to NBC Chicago. His mother says he was a strong swimmer, and that she doesn't know why he was unable to make it back to the shores of Pierce Lake. An autopsy revealed no physical injuries that could have hindered him.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday.

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