A missing 1-year-old girl was found dead in a pond yards from her family home early this morning.
According to several media outlets, the toddler went missing at approximately 10:30 Saturday night. Fox 2 News in St. Louis reports that her parents say they went out to dinner and were getting her ready for bed when her older brother let her out the front door by mistake by leaving the door open.
According to the Belleville News-Democrat, she wandered off from their home near the area of Ash Bridge Hollow Road and North Mississippi River Road just south of Gilead in rural Calhoun County. The area is a mix of farmland and woods with some steep terrain due to the Mississippi River nearby.
KMOV says that search and rescue dogs led officials to a pond 300 yards away where they tracked her scent overnight. Her body was found around 6 a.m. this morning by a volunteer. She was pronounced dead by Calhoun County Sheriff and Coroner Bill Heffington.
No additional information has been released and the investigation into the girl’s death is ongoing.