A 4-year-old girl who walked out of her family’s home was later found dead in a retention pond. Foul play is not suspected.
Chelsea Noel, who was wearing a pink nightgown with a cartoon horse on the front, was reported missing the evening of Dec. 2. Her body was discovered 25 hours later by a kayaker searching a pond in the area of SW Halmark Street and SW Abacus Avenue.
“Port St. Lucie Police would like to thank the many whom assisted with the search,” the agency said in a press release.
According to authorities, a security camera picked up the child walking out the front door of the house, located in the 4600 block of SW Keats Street, shortly before 10 p.m.
Patrol units, the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s helicopter and Martin County Correctional bloodhounds all engaged in the search, according to the police department, but to no avail.
Nearly 25 hours later, a U.S. Marshal member of the search team in a kayak reported seeing what appeared to be the child submerged in the pond a few blocks away.
The St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Dive Team went to the pond around 1 a.m. on Dec. 4 and was able to retrieve the body. It was identified as that of Chelsea Noel.
