A Georgia father returned home to find his 4-year-old daughter submerged head down in a large trash can filled with water and fish while her mother slept, according to police. The girl was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
Jayde Wooten’s father had just gotten home to their south Macon residence when he realized he couldn’t find Jayde in her room, according to an incident report obtained by local Fox and ABC affiliate WGXA.
He reportedly found Jayde’s mother asleep and woke her. She told him Jayde had been eating in the kitchen when she dozed off, the report states.
According to the incident report, the father began “frantically” searching room by room, even stepping outside to ask neighbors if they’d seen his daughter. When he heard Jayde’s mother scream, he ran back inside and found her in a small bathroom, where Jayde was head down in a large trash can filled with water and fish, the report says.
Jayde’s father pulled her from the can and carried her outside. Officers who arrived later noted large puddles of water across the bathroom floor, with a trail leading to the front door.
A neighbor told police she rushed over and started performing CPR on the child. She and Jayde’s mother reportedly took turns doing CPR until paramedics arrived.
That neighbor said fluid came out of Jayde’s mouth at one point and that the girl briefly opened her eyes. Another person at the scene, however, told police they could not detect a pulse.
A GoFundMe page set up by Jayde’s family calls her death a “horrible accident” that “no parent should ever have to face.”
The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office says the case remains under investigation, and an official cause of death has not yet been released.
