LAURINBURG, NC (WBTW) – A four-year-old Scotland County boy who was found in a pond in January 2018 died of accidental drowning, according to an autopsy report.
“There were no injuries causative of or contributory to death,” stated the report. “Based on the information received, autopsy findings, toxicology results, and circumstances surrounding the death, as currently understood, the cause of death is listed as drowning. The manner of death is classified as accident.”
According to report, there were no drugs in the boy’s system.
“There is a bridge that leads out to an island in the middle of the pond, and there is a slide on the island,” the report said. “Child-sized footprints were seen around the pond and around the slide.”
The report adds the child didn’t know how to swim.
The Scotland County Sheriff’s Office previously confirmed four-year-old Raul Gonzalez Johnson drowned in a pond near his home. Search crews discovered the boy’s body after several days of searching.
Johnson went missing on January 24 after his family says he wandered away from his granddad’s house.
An Amber Alert was issued for the child.
Two vigils were held. A vigil on Jan. 30, 2018 began with an emotional song called ‘The Anchor Holds’ performed by Scotland County Sheriff Ralph Kersey.
Sheriff Kersey described to the crowd how he grew to know the little boy after speaking with the child’s family.
“He loved climbing in trees and he loved playing with animals,” he said. “He loved to visit neighbors and he was shy. We all came to know him, but some of us never met him.”
