ROCKDALE COUNTY, Ga. -- A 4-year-old boy died after deputies recovered him from a pond Saturday night.
The child, identified as Legend Benton, had been reported missing from a home in the 3300 block of Flat Stone Court earlier in the evening.
Officials with the Rockdale County Sheriff's Office said they were called out to a pond near the intersection of Brighton Court and Flat Stone Court in Conyers just before 9 p.m. to reports that the missing child had been seen on camera by neighbors just before 8 p.m.
PHOTOS | 4-year-old Legend Benton
Photos: 4-year-old Legend Benton
Deputies, along with Rockdale County Sheriff Eric Levett, and assisted by the Rockdale Fire and Conyers Police departments, arrived and began searching for the child with help from K-9 units and a police drone. It was ultimately K-9 unit Titan and his handler who spotted the child in a pond near the home where he was last seen. The boy was pulled out of the water by deputies who immediately began CPR.
Rockdale Fire took over administering CPR and the boy was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. According to Jacade Long with the Rockdale Fire Department, the child did not survive and was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Long says the pond where the child was found is located behind several properties of single-family homes.
11Alive's Christie Ethridge spoke to Benson's mother Kendra over the phone, who explained that her husband dropped her son off at a cousin's home while he went to work. She said Legend has autism, and explained that that cousin was supposed to be watching the 4-year-old. Instead, she said, Legend, who is nonverbal, and the cousin's 4-year-old daughter were left playing outside while the cousin left the home.
Relatives of the cousin, however, dispute that fact and said that Legend was playing with other adults and teens, not another 4-year-old child, when he "darted off" toward the house and quickly disappeared. Police have not yet confirmed the facts leading up to Legend's disappearance and how he ended up in the pond.
Meanwhile, Kendra said she wants someone to be held responsible for what happened.
"Somebody is going to jail," she vowed.
Kendra said she does not fault her husband for what happened. She said she was going to go to the Rockdale Sheriff to talk to an investigator.
