ORION TWP. (WWJ) – An investigation is underway in Oakland County after young boy with special needs was found dead in a neighbor’s pool after leaving home.
The 5-year-old boy’s grandpa called the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department shortly before 4 p.m. Saturday to report the boy was missing.
The man told police the boy was last seen at the home on Devon Street in Orion Township around 3:30 p.m. The rear door to the home was open and the boy was missing, according to the sheriff’s office.
The boy was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt but no jacket, with temperatures dipping below 40 degrees on Saturday.
The grandfather told deputies the boy had attempted to leave the home in the past.
The Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Team, two K-9 units, Orion Township Fire Department personnel and multiple deputies began a search for the boy, going house to house and searching a nearby wooded area, a lake, and a swamp.
Drones could not be used because of high winds in the area.
Firefighters located the boy on the cover of an above ground pool at a home on Crestmont, about a block away from where the boy lived.
The cover had at least one foot of standing water on it, according to the sheriff’s office. There was a ladder on the rear of the pool the boy likely used to gain access to the water, officials said.
Paramedics immediately began performing CPR on the boy as he was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died a short time later.
An autopsy was performed Sunday. The cause and manner of death are pending.
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