A 4-year-old Florida girl's body was found in a retention pond early Monday about one-half mile from where her family said she'd walked away more than 24 hours earlier, Port St. Lucie police said.
Chelsea Noel's family told police that shortly before 10 p.m. Saturday the girl walked out of a home in the 4600 block of Southwest Keats Street, east of Interstate 95 off of Becker Road. They noticed she was gone "only a few minutes" after they last saw her, according to a statement from police.
A U.S. marshal in a kayak looking for the girl in the retention pond at SW Halmark Street and SW Abacus Avenue saw what he thought as a body at about 11 p.m. Sunday, police said.
St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Dive Team removed the lifeless 4-year-old from the water at about 1 a.m. Monday.
Patrol officers, St. Lucie County's helicopter and Martin Correctional bloodhounds helped in the search for Chelsea.
The girl is at least the sixth child to have drowned in St. Lucie County this year, according to Florida Department of Children and Families data.
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