Frozen Pond Horror: Three Brothers Drown in Texas

Three brothers under ten years old died in a frozen Texas pond when a rare winter storm turned a friend’s backyard into a death trap, while their mother watched helplessly from the ice.

Story Snapshot

Howard, 6, Kaleb, 8, and EJ, 9, drowned January 26, 2026, after falling through ice on a private pond near Bonham, Texas
Mother Cheyenne Hangaman jumped in to save them but was incapacitated by freezing water and pulled out by a neighbor
The youngest fell in first; his older brothers jumped in trying to rescue him in a tragic chain reaction
The incident occurred during a massive winter storm that killed over 35 people nationwide and forced widespread school closures
Texas Game Wardens conducted an extensive search to recover the youngest boy’s body after first responders found his brothers

When School Closures Become Death Sentences

Bonham Independent School District canceled classes on January 26, 2026, due to extreme cold from a rare winter storm pummeling Texas. The decision seemed prudent. Keep kids safe at home, away from icy roads and frigid temperatures. But Howard, Kaleb, and EJ Hangaman weren’t at home. They were staying at a friend’s house across the street from a wooded pond north of Bonham, a rural town of 10,000 residents sixty miles northeast of Dallas. That pond, frozen over by temperatures Texas rarely sees, became a magnet instead of a warning.

The Chain Reaction Nobody Could Stop

The sequence unfolded with devastating speed. Howard, the youngest at six, ventured onto the ice first and fell through. His brothers, nine-year-old EJ and eight-year-old Kaleb, didn’t hesitate. They jumped in after him, trying to pull their baby brother out. Their sister witnessed the horror and alerted their mother, Cheyenne Hangaman. She raced to the pond and plunged into the freezing water without hesitation, grabbing for her sons. The cold locked her muscles almost instantly. She described it later with raw honesty: “It was just one of me and three of them… I couldn’t save them.”

The Rescue That Came Too Late

A neighbor, reportedly a coach, threw Hangaman a rope and dragged her from the water before hypothermia killed her too. First responders from Fannin County Sheriff’s Office and Bonham Fire Department arrived and recovered EJ and Kaleb with the neighbor’s help. Both boys were rushed to a hospital but pronounced dead. Howard remained missing under the ice. Texas Game Wardens launched an extensive search, finally recovering the six-year-old’s body hours later. By Tuesday, January 27, ice still covered the pond, a grim reminder of conditions Texans rarely face and almost never prepare for.

A Mother’s Grief in Her Own Words

Cheyenne Hangaman spoke to FOX 4, releasing her sons’ names despite the sheriff’s office withholding them for privacy. She painted portraits of boys cut short: EJ loved football, Kaleb had a sweet disposition, Howard was goofy and full of life. Her decision to go public wasn’t about blame or anger. It was about making her sons real, not just statistics in a storm that killed over forty people nationwide by January 27. Her heroism, jumping into water cold enough to paralyze her, speaks to maternal instinct conservatives rightly honor. But it also underscores a harsh truth: love and courage can’t defeat physics.

Texas Wasn’t Built for This

Bonham’s mild winters don’t typically freeze ponds solid, much less tempt children onto ice. The January 2026 storm brought rare frigid temperatures across the South and Northeast, causing over 11,000 flight cancellations on January 26 alone and power outages stretching from Texas to Tennessee. Private ponds like the one that killed the Hangaman brothers don’t come with warning signs or safety patrols. Families in rural Texas don’t have generational knowledge about ice thickness or rescue protocols for frozen water. That knowledge lives in Minnesota and Wisconsin, not Fannin County.

The Storm’s Broader Body Count

The Hangaman brothers weren’t the storm’s only young victims. Elizabeth Angle, 16, died January 25 in Frisco when a sled pulled by a Jeep hit a curb and tree. Other deaths included hypothermia cases in Texas and Tennessee, shoveling-related heart attacks in Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, an ATV crash in Arkansas, and a snowplow accident in Massachusetts. By January 27, the death toll ranged between 35 and over 40, with numbers rising as reports filtered in. Bonham ISD Superintendent Lance Hamlin issued a statement calling the boys’ deaths an “unimaginable loss” and offering family support. The fire chief promised an investigation update, but investigations don’t bring back three elementary school students.

What This Means for Rural Communities

Short-term implications center on grief counseling for Bonham ISD families and likely heightened awareness about pond safety during rare freezes. Long-term, Fannin County might consider ordinances requiring warning signs on private ponds or public education campaigns about thin ice dangers. Texas emergency responders, trained for tornadoes and heat waves, might add cold-water rescue training. But will these changes happen before memories fade and budgets tighten? Rural communities operate on tight margins. Preparing for once-in-a-decade weather events competes with potholes, teacher salaries, and everyday crises. The Hangaman family’s loss might spur temporary action, but sustained change requires resources most small Texas towns lack.

The Unanswered Questions

Why were young children near an unsupervised frozen pond? Where were the adults at the friend’s house? These questions aren’t accusations but practical considerations for preventing future tragedies. The research provides no evidence of negligence, just an accumulation of circumstances: school closures, rare weather, children playing, and ice that looked solid but wasn’t. Fannin County authorities withheld details, citing ongoing investigation and family privacy. The fire chief’s promised update may clarify sequence and response times, but it won’t change outcomes. Texas Game Wardens faced difficult recovery conditions, emphasizing how freezing water complicates rescue efforts even for trained professionals.