Missing Four-Year-Old Found Dead In Northeast Iowa Pond

On Friday evening the search began to find a missing four-year-old who had gone missing. Unfortunately, the search did not end with the news the family was hoping for.

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At around 5 pm Friday evening, the Buchanan County Sheriff’s office received a 911 call about a missing four-year-old in Fairbank. He had been last seen at around 3:45 that afternoon in his front yard.

The Buchanan County Sheriff’s Deputies were joined by personnel from multiple different agencies in the area. The agencies worked together to extensively search the area.

According to the Sheriff’s office, they searched the residence, curtilage, surrounding fields, ditches, structures, and ponds utilizing man-power, UTVs, Sheriff's Drone, Sheriff's K9, FLIR (thermal imaging), Iowa State Patrol Aircraft, and other available resources.

The search came to an end around 11:40 Friday night when the child was located.

Personnel found the child in a neighboring pond, unfortunately, he was found deceased.

In a Facebook release from the department, the Sheriff’s office lists they were helped by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and Iowa State Patrol, with assistance provided by Buchanan County Emergency Management, Independence Police Department, Hazleton Fire Department, Fairbank Fire Department, Jesup Fire Department, Independence Fire Department, and Oelwein MercyOne Ambulance.

At this time, the Sheriff’s Department says that an investigation is ongoing, they do not suspect foul play in the matter. An autopsy will be conducted by the Office of the Iowa State Medical Examiner in Ankeny.

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