DA will investigate 1988 death of 8-year-old boy

JEFFERSON, Wis. (AP) - The 1988 death of an 8-year-old boy will be re-examined in Jefferson County.
    
A coroner ruled the death of Artis Echoles was due to accidental drowning. His mother, Carmin White, has never believed that ruling. She has convinced a Jefferson County judge to order an investigation.
    
The boy was in foster care at the time he died. His foster mother said her daughter's fiance took the boy swimming in the Bark River in Jefferson and that he disappeared. Divers later recovered his body. White says her son couldn't swim.
    
The Journal Sentinel says that in ordering an investigation, Judge Jennifer Weston noted in her decision that three young witnesses at the Bark River Campground saw a man throwing a boy into the water and holding his head underwater.