OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. (WSVN) — New video shows Osceola County deputies finding a missing girl struggling to stay above water in a neighbor’s pool.
It began as a massive search for the 7-year-old after she vanished from her mother’s sight while playing outside of their home in May.
“She was just spinning and doing her happy dance,” said Melissa Manning, the girl’s mother.
Manning’s daughter has autism. When Manning briefly stepped inside to start a load of laundry, she realized she no longer heard her daughter’s laughter outside.
Moments later, panic set in.
“How did I mess up that bad? That was like- ’cause, I mean, she was just right there, just spinning, laughing,” an emotional Manning said.
Knowing that her daughter was drawn to water, Manning immediately alerted the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities wasted no time, utilizing drones to get an aerial view and having search dogs assist deputies on the ground to find the girl.
From there, officials were able to quickly spot the girl, who had made her way into a neighbor’s pool.
“To the rescue comes our helicopter, our STAR unit, and they spot her in a neighbor’s pool and get the deputies to her, and luckily, the girl was OK,” said Osceola County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Kimberly Montes.
Deputies rushed to that neighbor’s yard and pulled the little girl out of the pool just in time.
A relieved and grateful Manning is now thanking the men and women who helped bring her daughter home safely.
“I just appreciate how calm and patient and thorough and just asking questions that I wouldn’t have thought to answer and being patient when I kind of struggled,” she said.
Manning added that this scare convinced her to enroll her daughter into a program that gives tracking bracelets to children with autism to help deputies find them faster should they ever go missing.
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