Police say they have found the body of a lost 4-year-old boy in Alabama’s backyard swimming pool.
On Saturday, June 15, the Cleburne County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook that the boy was last seen near Cleburne County Road 49 and County Road 111, just before 6 p.m.
Police Chief Barry Nolen of the Ranburne Police Department said on Facebook around 10:30 p.m. Saturday that the boy had been found dead. “I would also like to ask everyone to please keep the family in your prayers,” Nolan said.
In a letter to PEOPLE, Cleburne County Coroner Adam Downs confirmed that the child was who they said they were.
“I can say for sure that DJ Jarrell has died. An Al. child of 4 years old. “He was discovered in a swimming pool in the backyard of his family home,” Downs said.
At this point, the police haven’t said anything else, like how the boy got out of the house without anyone noticing.
Downs had told AL.com before that DJ “slipped away” from his house and was found in the pool after being looked for for almost two hours.
The doctor told the news source that the boy’s family is telling other families with young children to be careful if they have swimming pools.
Downs asked, “Please make sure that they keep the gates locked so that a child can’t get into that pool.”
He said the government didn’t see the boy in the pool at first because the water was “so cloudy.”
5-year-old Kyrie Jefferson drowned in an apartment pool in the Alabama town of Opelika just a few days before DJ did. This was reported by ABC station WTVM.
Source: PEOPLE
