A missing child is every parent’s nightmare, and the search for a three-year-old girl came to a tragic end after a desperate hunt for the child by parents and law enforcement officers.
The call for the missing tot first came in during the early morning hours of Tuesday. The mother of a little girl said the child had managed to get out the front door without anyone noticing.
The mom told the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office that she immediately checked the family security camera, which showed the child going out onto the front porch and playing for a bit before walking away. She searched the immediate area, and when she couldn’t find the child, called 9-1-1-.
Deputies and members of the Proctorville and Chesapeake Fire Departments sprang into action and began to search the nearby woods for any sign of the little girl.
An officer was walking along the creek bank in search of the child when he heard a scream coming from a home. When he ran to see what was wrong, he discovered a relative of the child lifting the little girl from an above-ground pool.
The officer immediately began CPR, and medics soon arrived on the scene to assist. They rushed the child to the hospital, but unfortunately, she passed away that evening.
After viewing home security footage, officers learned the child walked the half-mile to the relative’s home with her dog, and then climbed the stairs of the deck to enter the pool. Video showed the child playing on the steps of the pool for a few minutes before going into deeper water and disappearing from view.
The Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office expressed sympathy to the parents and commended their staff and other local first responders for their efforts to save the child.
Safety experts recommend that any entrance to a pool be secured with fencing and a locked gate to prevent children from wandering into the pool.