PALM BAY, Fla. – A family is mourning a 2-year-old girl’s drowning death as police investigate how she was able to access the pool area at the Woodlake Village apartments in Palm Bay.
Police said the toddler, identified as Sydney Pinder, and another child, 8, were being watched by a babysitter Wednesday when they walked to the pool unsupervised.
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Police said how Sydney got in the water is still under investigation.
“I don’t know how they got in the pool because you have to have a key to get in this pool,’’ grandmother Deborah Pinder Jones said. ‘’In this situation, she wasn’t taken care of properly.’’
Detectives said they are looking at surveillance around the pool.
Sydney’s father said he dropped her off with a babysitter, who lives in an apartment next to the pool, before he went to work Wednesday. The girl’s mother was then planning on picking Sydney up that night when she was done working.
Antonio Pinder said he trusted the babysitter because she used to watch another child of his and babysat his daughter throughout Sydney’s life.
He added that the babysitter dates a member of their family.
“That’s why I had her there because I thought she was in safe care,’’ Pinder said.
The family said Sydney would have turned 3-years-old on May 28.
Pinder Jones said her granddaughter loved to sing.
‘’When she walks in the room, she lights up the room,’’ Sydney’s grandmother said.
Stick with News 6 and ClickOrlando.com for updates to this developing story.