diff --git a/src/mlpack/core/tree/rectangle_tree/r_plus_tree_descent_heuristic_impl.hpp b/src/mlpack/core/tree/rectangle_tree/r_plus_tree_descent_heuristic_impl.hpp
index 6a61e919a0e..fd27a270caa 100644
--- a/src/mlpack/core/tree/rectangle_tree/r_plus_tree_descent_heuristic_impl.hpp
+++ b/src/mlpack/core/tree/rectangle_tree/r_plus_tree_descent_heuristic_impl.hpp
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ size_t RPlusTreeDescentHeuristic::ChooseDescentNode(TreeType* node,
 {
   typedef typename TreeType::ElemType ElemType;
   size_t bestIndex = 0;
-  bool success;
+  bool success = true;
 
   // Try to find a node that contains the point.
   for (bestIndex = 0; bestIndex < node->NumChildren(); bestIndex++)