PUTNAM COUNTY, Fla. — The body of a missing 1-year-old Florida boy was found Monday afternoon, one day after the toddler vanished while playing in his rural Putnam County backyard, authorities confirmed.
Sheriff Homer “Gator” DeLoach III said Jose Lara’s body was found in a septic tank on the family’s property in what appears to be an accidental fall, WJAX reported.
The septic tank, located about 40 yards from the home, was covered with rotting plywood, and investigators believe the boy fell in after wandering away, the TV station reported.
Lara was last seen playing with his sister outside the family’s Crescent City home, about an hour from Daytona Beach, People magazine reported.
The children’s mother took the sister inside to clean her up, and when she came back outside, the toddler was gone, WJAX reported.
“This was certainly the worst possible case scenario as far as outcome,” DeLoach told WJAX.
“These things happen in just a blink of an eye. And it’s terribly unfortunate what’s happened here, but it serves as a reminder to all of us who have children that are parents that there’s never an opportunity to leave them unsupervised,” the sheriff added.
Read the complete WJAX report.
The sheriff’s office deployed a host of tools in its search for the missing child since Sunday, including the use of bloodhounds, drones, helicopters and night-vision devices, WJAX reported.