By JENNIFER RIGG
Police have ruled the Saturday night death of an 8-year-old Jeffersonville girl a “tragic” accident.
Jeannie Marie Donahay was found dead near her home around less than 30 minutes after her father reported her missing to police. Officers found her body on the ground near the family’s inflatable pool underneath its tarp.
Detective Charlie Thompson of the Jeffersonville Police Department said Donahay had been playing with a garden hose in the front yard of her home along the 400 block of Mary Street when her father, Michael Donahay, realized shortly before 9 p.m. that she was gone. After checking with neighbors and nearby friends, he notified police.
A short while later using a flashlight to search the backyard, an officer found what looked to be “a round-shaped object” underneath the pool’s liner, the police report says.
When he lifted it, he saw the girl’s foot. Emergency crews were immediately called, but they were unable to revive her.
Multiple calls were made to The Evening News and The Tribune on Thursday from concerned neighbors claiming they heard the child had been kidnapped and murdered.
Thompson dispelled the rumors saying Donahay’s death was merely a “tragic accident,” and that an autopsy done Sunday morning in Louisville revealed she died of asphyxiation and her body showed no signs of any trauma.
While police can’t be 100 percent sure of the events surrounding her death, Thompson said they’ve theorized that the 8-year-old likely decided to remove the pool’s heavy tarp, which was only partly covering the 25 inch tall pool, by herself.
When her initial attempts failed, Thompson said he thought she probably got underneath the tarp, pressed her feet up against the pool’s side, and pulled again, causing water to spill over the side and down onto the tarp pinning her between it and the ground.
“We feel it was just a freak accident that happened,” Thompson said from his office Thursday afternoon. “She got herself in a real bad position.”
