{"id":379989,"date":"2026-08-24T20:12:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T20:12:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/379989\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T20:12:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T20:12:11","slug":"jso-investigating-after-3-year-old-girl-with-autism-drowns-on-jacksonvilles-northside","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/379989\/","title":{"rendered":"JSO investigating after 3-year-old girl with autism drowns on Jacksonville\u2019s Northside"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office presence at the Waterside Townhomes on Jacksonville’s Northside. (WJXT, Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 The Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office said that it is investigating after a 3-year-old girl with autism drowned in a retention pond on the city\u2019s Northside on Monday.<\/p>\n

JSO said just after 7:30 a.m., officers responded to the Waterside Townhomes at River City regarding a missing girl with autism. Officers searched the area and found the girl unresponsive in a nearby retention pond.<\/p>\n

Investigators said they are determining how the girl was able to leave the home and the circumstances surrounding the incident.<\/p>\n

No foul play is suspected at this time, JSO said.<\/p>\n

In early August, Chace Brown, 7, also was found in a retention pond<\/a> after going missing from his home on the Northside.<\/p>\n

The sheriff\u2019s office is reminding people about the dangers of water, especially for children with autism. It offered safety tips for the community.<\/p>\n

Block access to water. Use fencing, door and window alarms, locks and other barriers to prevent children from slipping out.<\/p>\n

Know what\u2019s nearby. Check your neighborhood and look for potential access to ponds, lakes, rivers and pools.<\/p>\n

If your child goes missing, call 911 immediately and check the water first.<\/p>\n

Teach water safety. Swimming lessons, including those designed for children with disabilities, can help reduce the risk of drowning.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

About the AuthorAriel Schiller headshotAriel Schiller<\/a><\/p>\n

Ariel Schiller joined the News4Jax team as an evening reporter in September of 2023. She comes to Jacksonville from Tallahassee where she worked at ABC27 as a Weekend Anchor\/Reporter for 10 months. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office presence at the Waterside Townhomes on Jacksonville’s Northside. (WJXT, Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX –…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,1872],"class_list":["post-379989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-jso"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}