MISSISSIPPI COUNTY, Ark. — A swing sat empty outside of a Mississippi County home where a family is grieving.
“She said my 2-year-old cousin Jaime died. I was like ‘no. There ain’t no way.’ It just still don’t seem real,” April Pay said.
The death felt like a nightmare to loved ones.
“Boys get away, they have their own mind. They roll,” Sherman Mayheart said.
Jaicob Gray disappeared during a birthday party in the Half Moon area near Blytheville.
“They cleared everybody out of the pool and everybody started looking,” Mike Godsey, with the Blytheville Emergency Squad and Mississippi County Coroner, said.
Dozens of first responders and neighbors joined the search.
“They were just scouring the neighborhood. They were looking in every spot they could think of,” Godsey explained.
The toddler was found at the bottom of the four-foot pool.
“We could not see him from the surface,” Godsey recalled.
Doctors pronounced Jaicob dead at the hospital.
Family members said he was a happy baby who was loved by so many.
“He just danced, he just played. He’s a character,” Pay said.
It is a sad reminder of summer dangers.
“You just can’t let them out of your sight for an instant or they’ll be gone,” Godsey said.
Investigators do not suspect any foul play involved.
If you are interested in helping the family or sending condolences, contact Chief Charley Byrd with the Town of Dell.
His phone number is 870-493-1008.