Niagara Falls mystery as woman disappears just one week after mom and two kids plunged to their deaths

A woman is missing after entering Niagara River near the falls where a mom and her two kids died in a horror murder-suicide one week ago. 

New York State police are actively searching for the woman who was last seen in the water just above the largest of the three waterfalls that make up the notorious destination, The New York Post reported.

Witnesses reported seeing the woman in the waters of Goat Island, just above Horseshoe Falls at around 2pm Wednesday afternoon. 

‘An immediate search of the area commenced using Park Police drone, foot searches of the gorge and visual searches from overlooks,’ state police said in a statement to WGRZ.

‘Park police also contacted New York State Police Aviation for assistance in searching the lower Niagara River,’ they added.

Search crews are now searching for the woman reportedly plunged into the Niagara River 

But the woman, who is yet to be identified, is yet to be found. 

Horseshoe Falls is the largest of the three waterfalls that collectively make up Niagara Falls –  reaching 188 feet high, 2,200 feet wide and the plunge pool beneath submerging to 100 feet deep.

The deepest point in the Niagara River – which is 167 feet deep – is just below Horseshoe Falls, which is the same height of the falls. 

The incident comes just a week after a New York mother launched herself and her two children over the ledge in the same area.

Just last Monday, 33-year-old Chianti Means stepped over the guardrail with her kids at Luna Park – a small area near the crest of the falls.

She pushed her two children, nine-year-old Roman Rossman and four-month-old Mecca Means, over the ledge before jumping 200 feet into the water after them.

The mystery woman, who has yet to be found, was last seen in the water just above Horseshoe Falls – the largest of the three waterfalls that make up the notorious destination

Just last Monday, 33-year-old Chianti Means stepped over the guardrail with her kids at Luna Park and pushed her 9-year-old son and four-month-old daughter over the ledge before jumping 200 feet into the water after them

State Park Police said that based on the reviewed security footage capturing the series of events, Roman was the first to go over the railing, then Mecca and Means at around 9pm.

State Police Public Information Officer Trooper, James O’Callaghan, said that it did not appear as though the mom was chasing after her children at the time they plunged to their deaths.

All three have since been declared dead, but their bodies have not yet been recovered – and may never be found.

Authorities noted how the powerful currents could carry their remains hundreds of miles away from the falls, The Mirror reported.

Despite days of intensive search efforts, police reported last week that their rescue operations to find Means and her two young children were unsuccessful.

Means, who lived in Niagara Falls with her family, worked as a domestic violence counselor, according to her LinkedIn profile. 

The bodies of Means, nine-year-old Roman Rossman and four-month-old Mecca Means have not been found, but all three have since been declared dead 

Means, who lived in Niagara Falls with her family and worked as a domestic violence counselor, was said to be struggling from postpartum depression

Rumors surrounding last week’s deaths have stemmed from Means’ social media posts about her split with her daughter’s father, in which she hinted at her anguish sadness and regret.

But her cousin, Bierra Hamilton, says the young mom was suffering from postpartum depression.

‘Understand this – postpartum [depression] is very real and needs a cure,’ Hamilton told the New York Post. ‘Her death wasn’t over a man. My cousin was silently fighting depression alone.’

Many of those who have jumped to their deaths in Niagara Falls or fallen in by accident have never been recovered from the bottom of the waterfall, over which 3,610 tons of water rage every second. 

Some are pushed far from the falls and carried downstream by its ferocious currents – and in some rare cases, are found years later.

One man who was believed to go over Niagara Falls in 1990 was just identified this past April, CBS News reported.

Vincent Stack, a Buffalo, New York man, went missing at 40 years old in Niagara Falls State Park three decades ago. 

Two years later, in April of 1992, a body was found on the shores of Lake Ontario.

But it was only discovered this past year that the remains were those of Stack, whose body traveled roughly 15 miles to the mouth of the river before drifting 140 miles across the lake after his fall 34 years ago.