Lights on top of a police vehicle.
A 7-year-old girl was found dead in the Houston area several hours after she was reported missing Wednesday, according to the Pearland Police Department.
According to police in the suburb south of Houston, officers responded to the 2000 block of Sunset Springs Drive in Pearland to a report of a missing nonverbal, autistic girl named Skyler Hopson. The child is believed to have left her house on foot with her iPad on Wednesday morning, police said.
In a post on social media, Pearland police said Hopson’s body was recovered from a nearby retention pond at approximately 2:45 p.m.
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Earlier Wednesday afternoon, an Amber Alert was sent out for Hopson.
Police said drones, K9 units and a Houston Police Department helicopter were used during the search for Hopson. The K9 units eventually tracked the child’s scent to a nearby retention pond, which police said corroborated with pings from her iPad.
HPD’s dive team assisted with the recovery of Hopson’s body.
In a statement, Pearland police said the incident was tragic, adding they did not believe Hopson had been abducted.
“Pearland Police Department is devastated by the results of this search and our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this time,” Pearland police said. “Thank you to all local resources, including TEXSAR and AlphaSAR and their K-9’s, who tracked the scent to the pond, as well as Pearland residents who assisted in search and surveillance efforts and to the community for their support.”