4-YO Girl With Autism Found Dead in Canal After Going Missing From Their Rental Home | “Lost Our Precious Shining Star”

Evelyn Geer was reported missing early morning on Friday, June 2. The four-year-old's mother found the front door of the home in Port Charlotte open, following which she immediately called 911. “She’s screaming, advising her 4-year-old daughter is missing. She found her front door wide open,” the dispatcher can be heard saying in the 911 call audio released by the sheriff’s office, per CNN. “This can’t be happening,” the mother can be heard saying in disbelief. The devasted mother was frantic on the call, describing what her daughter was last seen wearing. “Just a diaper,” she said. “Oh, God. Oh, God! … She’s about 3 feet tall with long brown hair and a ponytail,” her mother said. Tragically the little girl was found dead in a Florida canal six hours later.

The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office announced the discovery of Geer’s remains, in a statement on Facebook, writing, “We are heartbroken to confirm that the body of 4-year-old Evelyn K. Geer (2-25-2019) has been discovered along the water edge down the canal behind the Vrbo the family was staying in.” The child who was wearing a diaper at the time she went missing was discovered during a search by a boat belonging to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “Please keep the family in your prayers as they go through this unbearable time,” the sheriff's office added.

The victim's family was staying at the rental after being displaced by Hurricane Ian this past September, according to WINK News.  Geer had autism and her family usually had a deadbolt lock on their door but the rental did not have one.

Officials were quick to respond to looking for the child. A neighbor said he woke up to helicopters that were searching for the little girl at 4 a.m. “It startled me,” Steve Stotler said. “I went out to the street to see what was going on, and that’s when the officer told me they were looking for a 4-year-old girl.” 

“It’s the scariest thing to have a cop knock on your door at 3 in the morning because they never bring good news at 3,” another neighbor Linda Kopycai said. “We showed him all the videos that we had.”

After hours of searching, Geer was found shortly after 7 a.m. “We lost our most precious shining star today and it is with the heaviest of hearts that I create this account,” the victim's grandmother, Tina Kolman, wrote on the GoFundMe. “Forgive me as I am truly at a loss for words.”

References:

https://winknews.com/2023/06/02/charlotte-county-deputies-searching-missing-child/ 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/final-expenses-for-evelyn-k-geer

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/03/us/girl-dead-florida-canal-charlotte-county-rental/index.html

Cover Image Source: GoFundMe