Mum dies after teens allegedly rolled log off cliff in ‘funny’ stunt

A photographer had been working in a park when a 33kg tree log fatally struck her – with three teens now charged over her death.

An American mother-of-four was tragically killed when a 33kg log hit her, allegedly as part of two teenage boys’ attempt “to be funny”.

A third teen has now been charged in connection to photographer Victoria Schafer’s death in September last year.

Ms Schafer, 40, had been photographing high school students in Hocking Hills State Park in the US state of Ohio when she was hit and killed by the tree log.

Jordan Buckley and Jaden Churchheus, who were both 16 at the time, were arrested and charged over Ms Schafer’s death a month later, the Chillicothe Gazette reported.

Both have pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and will be sentenced on Friday local time.

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Victoria Schafer was killed by a log that was pushed over a cliff. Picture: Schafer Family

A third teenager – Miranda Spencer, who was 19 at the time of the incident – has now been charged with obstruction of justice in connection to Ms Schafer’s death.

Spencer had been with Buckley and Churchheus in the park that day and had at first told the court she didn’t know which of the two teen boys had pushed the log off the cliff.

She later said it had been Churchheus but that Buckley had told him there had been no-one beneath them before throwing the log.

“Jordan looks over the cliff and is like, ‘There’s nobody down there, like, you’re good, dude,’ and then Jaden either kicks it off or pushes it off, I’m not sure,” Spencer said, according to court records obtained by 10 WBNS.

Spencer alleged she had told them not to throw the log but they “did it to be funny”.

According to Spencer the group fled the scene after a man ran past them, telling them a woman had been killed.

The cliff where the log fell from. Picture: Inside Edition

Teenagers Jordan Buckley, 16, and Jaden Churchheus, 17, have been charged over her death. Picture: WKYC.COM

“I know Jaden. I don’t believe that he would ever intentionally hurt someone,” Spencer said, also alleging that Churchheus had later said he “caught his first body at 17”.

Ms Schafer was a well-known local photographer and animal rights activist who “loved photography, but she loved her family even more”.

“She cherished her four children and her husband, Fritz. When she wasn’t taking pictures for others, she was celebrating the beauty of her own family through her photography,” a Facebook page created in her memory says.

Both teens have since apologised in court for their actions, with Buckley telling Ms Schafer’s family he will spend every day of the rest of his life thinking about what happened.

“And my hope from all of this is to use this trauma to learn and live the rest of my life in a way that will honour the Schafers,” he said, according to Inside Edition.

Churchheus also apologised, saying he was “truly sorry” for what happened and he will “carry that for the rest of my life”, ABC 6 reported.