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Missing 5-year-old Orion Twp. boy found dead on top of neighbor's pool cover

Oakland County Sheriff's Office-3.png
Posted at 6:25 AM, Mar 27, 2023
and last updated 2023-03-27 08:32:27-04

(WXYZ) — The Oakland County Sheriff's Office said a 5-year-old boy with special needs died on Saturday after he was found in an above-ground pool just hours after he went missing.

Deputies were called to the home in Lake Orion on a report of the missing boy, with the grandfather saying he was last seen around 3:30 p.m. The rear door to the home was missing and the boy was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt but no jacket, and the temperature was 37 degrees.

Police searched the area and went house to house, and eventually, firefighters found the boy on the cover of an above-ground pool about a block away. It had about a foot of standing water on it.

According to the sheriff's office, there was a ladder on the back of the pool the boy could have used to climb it.

Emergency crews immediately began performing CPR as he was transported to a hospital, but he died a short time later.