Hotel pool closed after body of missing 8-year-old girl found in pipe of ‘lazy river’

HOUSTON — An 8-year-old girl died Saturday after she was caught in the pipe of a “lazy river” pool at a hotel in northwest Houston, health officials said.

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The girl was identified by family members as Aliyah Lynette Jaico, according to KTRK-TV.

The Houston Health Department on Monday shut down the pool and lazy river at the DoubleTree by Hilton, at 12801 Northwest Freeway, the Houston Chronicle reported. Health officials said the lazy river had gates that opened toward the pool area, a gate with openings that were too wide, and a fence that was too short, the newspaper reported, citing a submersion investigation completed on Monday.

The pool was ordered closed until the violations were corrected, according to the report.

Jaico was reported missing at about 6 p.m. CDT after being last seen at the lazy-river style pool at the hotel, according to the television station.

Police said the girl’s body was found at about 11:30 p.m. CDT inside a large pipe in the pool area, KRIV-TV reported. She was pronounced dead at the scene by paramedics.

Search-and-rescue teams used long poles with cameras attached to find her body, according to the television station.

Jaico’s death was ruled an accidental drowning by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science, the Chronicle reported. According to medical examiner records, the child’s death was caused by drowning and “mechanical asphyxia.”

There was nothing in the new health department report that specifically connected the girl’s death to the hotel violations, the newspaper reported. The pool was last inspected in June 2023, according to health officials.

Investigators said Jaico was pulled 20 feet into a pipe that was about 16 inches in diameter, KTRK reported.

Tim Miller, the founder of Texas EquuSearch, a nonprofit search and recovery organization that helped in the search, said security cameras documented Jaico entering the water but did not have footage showing her leaving the pool.

“The size of her body, it would have been nearly impossible for her to intentionally swim in that pipe because when I say she was logged in there tight, she was logged in there tight,” Miller told KRIV.

Hotel officials declined KTRK′s request for comment.

No charges have been filed in connection to the Jaico’s death, the Chronicle reported.

If the business does not correct the violations found Monday, it could face fines of up to $2,000 a day per violation, according to the newspaper.

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