Missing autistic Sutton girl drowns – NBC Boston

The desperate search for a missing four-year-old autistic girl in Sutton, Massachusetts, ended tragically Thursday night when she was found unconscious in a neighbor’s swimming pool and later pronounced dead at UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester.

The authorities are keeping a low profile on the case, but the outcome is shocking for the family, neighbors and the city’s emergency services.

A friend who visited the girl’s family told NBC10 Boston that her family is devastated and is unable to publicly mourn the sudden loss of Eva at this time.

The little girl’s body was found in a pool at the end of Green Road at 3.50pm on Thursday, just hours after an emergency call was made to Sutton Police.

“My heart, my stomach, I just couldn’t breathe,” said Ronda Tawadros, who helped search for Eva. “For an autistic child. I know it’s so hard because I know we have a family member and you just call their name and they don’t respond.”

Tawadros lives near Eva’s home and felt compelled to join the community searching for Eva in the neighborhood and the forest.

That was until Sutton police called off the search Thursday night, sparking growing concern in the community. In a heartbreaking update Friday morning, the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office confirmed the girl had drowned.

Sutton police have not yet released information about what happened to 4-year-old Eva, who disappeared on Peachtree Drive Thursday afternoon. Follow NBC10 Boston on… Instagram: instagram.com/nbc10boston TikTok: tiktok.com/@nbc10boston Facebook: facebook.com/NBC10Boston X: twitter.com/NBC10Boston

Sutton Public Schools has announced that they will be offering counseling services at Sutton Elementary School on Monday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

“We are incredibly saddened by this loss,” wrote interim Supt. Caitlin Paget. “We are here to support our school community.”

Paget said this loss will certainly generate a lot of emotion, concern and questions throughout the community, especially among students and staff, and encouraged community members to feel free to take advantage of the support team’s available services.

The kindergarten that Eva attended also expressed its deepest condolences to her family on Friday and said how much they would miss the little girl.

“As an educator, your students are your children, you give them everything and love them as if they were your own. There are no words to express the depth of sadness our Small Wonders family feels,” Small Wonders Childcare and Preschool wrote in a statement. “Her smile and laughter will remain in our hearts forever. We will always be grateful for the time we spent with our girl Eva.”

The news also has an impact on emergency services. Sutton Police said in a Facebook post: “The last 12 hours have been incredibly difficult for one of our families in the town and our emergency services team. There are no words that can help ease the grief… We are so incredibly sorry.”

Jeff Cardin, who has an autistic family member, also joined the search for Eva on Thursday and says he would hope for the same reaction from the public if he were in the same situation.

“It’s a close-knit neighborhood. We all look out for each other,” he said. “It happened last year when someone got stuck on an excavator down here. Same scenario, a lot of people looking out for each other, just everyone helping each other.”

A local pastor urged social media users to come together and avoid blame. He wrote on Facebook: “Our human curiosity makes us chase details, speculate and even judge. Let us move away from such things. It is time to love our neighbors, pray to God for them and help them when and how the opportunity arises.”

Investigators have not yet released any further details, such as who was looking after the little girl when she disappeared.

We spoke to an expert about how to help autistic children reach their full potential.

Drowning in children with autism is not uncommon. A 2017 Columbia University study found that children with autism are 160 times more likely to drown than other children.

Just last month, six-year-old Zayan Mayanja escaped from his home through a window and was found dead in a lake near Westford.

Last summer, 7-year-old Ana Mburu of Lowell was reported missing, her body was later found in the Merrimack River in nearby Tewksbury.

A young girl from Lowell who was reported missing over the weekend was found dead in the Merrimack River on Monday.

And on Mother’s Day last year, four-year-old Mohamed Abou Fofana disappeared from a playground on Castle Island in South Boston and was found dead on the shore of Spectacle Island in Boston Harbor.

The body of four-year-old Mohamed Abou Fofana was found last Monday on the shore of one of the islands in Boston Harbor after he disappeared the day before.