Deputies: Missing Autistic Girl Found Dead in Pond Behind Home

The Associated Press
By The Associated Press
January 14, 2023US News
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Deputies: Missing Autistic Girl Found Dead in Pond Behind Home
Palm Beach County sheriffs' vehicles in West Palm Beach, Fla., in a file photo. (Robert Sullivan/AFP via Getty Images)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.—A six-year-old girl has been found dead in a retention pond after going missing from a South Florida home, authorities said.

Deputies responded to reports of a missing autistic girl in the West Palm Beach neighborhood Tuesday evening, a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office news release said. The search included helicopters, K9 officers, and deputies knocking on neighbors’ doors.

Aleenah Fenelus’s lifeless body was eventually found in a body of water behind the residence, officials said. The child was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Deputies didn’t immediately say how the girl ended up in the pond.

The investigation is ongoing, but officials didn’t immediately suspect foul play.

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