Three brothers drowned in an icy pond in Bonham, Texas, after the youngest fell through the ice and his siblings rushed to save him — a tragic chain of events that left a mother watching helplessly as her children disappeared beneath the freezing water.
The incident claimed the lives of 6-year-old Howard Doss, 8-year-old Kaleb Doss, and 9-year-old EJ Doss in Fannin County, about 65 miles northeast of Dallas, during the recent winter storm that swept through North Texas. Their mother, Cheyenne Hangaman, jumped into the pond in a desperate attempt to rescue her sons but was ultimately pulled from the water herself by a local football coach who heard the commotion, as reported by CBS News.
“I tried to fight for my kids’ life. I had to watch them struggle and drown, and I couldn’t help them,” Hangaman told Fox4. “There was three of them and only one of me. That’s why I couldn’t save them.”
First responders and a neighbor managed to pull the two older boys from the water and immediately began life-saving measures before transporting them to a hospital, where they later died. The youngest child, Howard, did not resurface initially and was recovered after an extensive search, according to authorities.
Brothers Until the End
What makes this tragedy particularly heartbreaking is how it unfolded — a testament to the brothers’ devotion to one another. “I expected the other one to try to save the other one and the other one to go after the other one. Yeah, I expected that,” a family member said. “They were mean to each other, but once something happens, it goes down there, right there, for each other.”
The family held visitation services for the three brothers on Saturday in Greenville, followed by funeral services on Sunday. A balloon release was organized on Friday afternoon to honor the boys’ memory, with community members gathering to support the grieving family, outlets confirmed.
Hangaman shared memories of her sons, painting a picture of three distinct personalities united by brotherhood. “My oldest one, EJ—he didn’t care about nothing but football and getting his haircut. He wanted to play sports,” she recalled. “Kaleb’s personality was out of this world; he was the sweetest boy I ever met. And Howard… he was just goofy. He would liven the party.”
The winter storm’s deadly toll didn’t stop with the Doss brothers. In total, six children lost their lives across North Texas during the extreme weather event. Two 16-year-olds in Frisco, Elizabeth Angle and Grace Brito, and a 17-year-old in Ponder, Caden Nowicki, died in separate sledding accidents, turning what should have been a rare snow day into a series of preventable tragedies across the region.
How quickly can an ordinary winter day turn catastrophic? For these families, it took only moments — a reminder of how treacherous frozen bodies of water can be, especially in regions unaccustomed to extended periods of ice and snow.
As the community mourns these three brothers, their story stands as a heart-wrenching testament to sibling loyalty — three young boys who, in their final moments, thought not of themselves but of saving one another from the icy waters that would claim them all.
