4-year-old dies after wandering from home, Charlotte deputies say

UPDATED at 5 p.m. with additional details.

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (WWSB) - A 4-year-old girl who wandered away from her house in Port Charlotte early Friday morning was found dead by officers searching a canal behind her home, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office said.

The distraught mother called 911 just before 3 a.m. to tell deputies her daughter, Evelyn Geer, was missing from their rented home on Barksdale Street. “She’s gone,” she is heard to say in a heavily reacted recording of the 911 call. “This can’t be happening.”

The dispatcher is heard trying to calm her. “I have a lot of deputies heading your way, she said. “We’re going to help look for her.” Due to the graphic nature of the recording, ABC7 is choosing not to air it or post it on mysuncoast.com.

In a message sent out on its website and Twitter at about 6:30 a.m. Friday, the sheriff’s office said Evelyn “has been missing for several hours.” Minutes after the notice was posted, the sheriff’s office also posted that a nearby street was closed off “until further notice.” K-9 units were brought to the scene and drones were employed in the search.

The child’s body was found along the the edge of a canal behind the home by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers who joined the search by boat, the sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff’s office has confirmed that Evelyn was on the autism spectrum and is thought to have wandered off toward the canal. The family had been displaced and had been staying in the vacation rental for the past two weeks.

In a message sent out on its website and Twitter at about 6:30 a.m. Friday, the sheriff’s office said the girl “has been missing for several hours.” Minutes after the notice was posted, the sheriff’s office also posted that a nearby street was closed off “until further notice.” K-9 units were brought to the scene and drones were employed in the search.

“Please keep the family in your prayers as they go through this unbearable time,” the sheriff’s office said.

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