3-year-old drowns in Calif. reservoir during ‘nightmare’ family camping trip

A 3-year-old Modesto girl died over the weekend in a drowning at Don Pedro Reservoir, a popular location for water recreation in the Sierra Nevada foothills. 

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Deputies from the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office were called to the area of Fleming Meadows Lagoon just after 3:30 p.m. on Saturday regarding a missing child who might have drowned in the water. Additional 911 callers eventually reported that the 3-year-old girl had been found and was receiving CPR, the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.

Crews with the sheriff’s office boat patrol, who were already at the lake, reached the girl first, took over CPR efforts from bystanders and began life-saving measures, the sheriff’s office said. The 3-year-old could not be revived, and she was pronounced dead at the scene before authorities could transport her by air for further medical assistance. 

The sheriff’s office did not provide details about what led to the drowning, though the Facebook post shows a raft or boat that the child may have been on before falling into the water. Anyone with videos or photos of the child on the raft or of the child being pulled out of the water is urged to call the detective assigned to the case at 209-694-2904. 

According to a GoFundMe page for the child’s family, the child was on a family camping trip when the drowning happened.

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“What was meant to be a joyful family camping trip became an unimaginable nightmare that no parent, sibling, or grandparent should ever have to endure,” a close friend of the child’s grandmother wrote on the fundraiser page. The 3-year-old was one of several siblings, according to the page, with an older brother, an older sister and a younger brother. 

The family friend described the child as a “bright, beautiful little girl whose smile brought happiness to everyone around her.” As of Wednesday afternoon, the fundraiser has raised more than $8,800 out of its $12,000 goal.