Missing 9-year-old girl found dead in pond, family thanks community
A 9-year-old girl reported missing from her home in northern Kentucky was found dead Saturday evening.
Jenny Dim disappeared from her home on Macintosh Lane in Florence around 5:30 p.m. on Friday March 13.
A large effort involving multiple agencies and community search groups scoured the area throughout the night and day Saturday.
Dim, who was a non-verbal child, was found in a nearby pond, according to Boone County officials.
Jenny Dim, 9, was found dead in a pond near her home in Florence on March 14.
Dim’s aunt, who identified herself as Julie Par, thanked the Boone County community for their support and help in the search for Dim in a Facebook post.
“The number of people who came out to support us and volunteered to search from dawn to dusk really amazed us,” Par said. “The love and support we have received means more than words can express.”
Autistic children sometimes “run away” to water
An IAN alert, a special alert for missing autistic or mentally ill children who may be in danger, had been issued for Sun.
The alerts are named after Ian Sousis, who fled the Northern Kentucky children’s home and drowned in the Ohio River in 2022.
In the United States in 2024, 69 children with autism will drown, almost double the usual annual average, according to the National Autism Association.
The retention pond at Lakota Lake Apartments in West Chester, where a 7-year-old autistic child drowned last June. Retention ponds like these are often not fenced.
Children with autism sometimes move away from their parents or caregivers, a behavior known as running away. Many autistic children are drawn to water because it provides a calming sensory effect, regardless of temperature.
This weekend, just north of the Ohio River in Warren County, a 4-year-old child drowned in a pond in a Deerfield Township subdivision.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Missing Florence child Jenny Dim, 9, found dead after extensive search
