A couple has been arrested after their 3-year-old son tragically passed away from drowning in a pond on Saturday afternoon, as reported by Sanford police.
At approximately 3:14 p.m., the police in Sanford received a call about a 3-year-old boy with Autism who had gone missing from the Crosby at Towne Center apartments.
According to the child’s father, the boy was last seen 30 minutes prior. The mother stated that at 12:40 p.m., she was in the bathroom of their apartment while her son was in the living room.
She heard a door open and close and asked her teenage daughter to check the front door. Unfortunately, the teen didn’t realize that the child had left the apartment.
Following this, the parents began searching for their son. They mentioned to the police that this had happened at least three times before, and on two occasions, a neighbor had found him and brought him back to their apartment complex’s front office.
The police noted that the family’s home had a strong smell of marijuana and was in a messy state.
Around 3:33 p.m., officers spotted an unidentified object floating in a pond located directly behind the parents’ apartment. They soon discovered it was the child.
The toddler was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced deceased at 4:12 p.m.
Both parents, Barbara Luiz and Lester Ortiz, have been arrested on charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child.
