A day of feeding the ducks ended in tragedy for one grandmother and her granddaughter when they drowned in a Florida lake.
The bodies of 59-year-old Laura Zulema Fleming and her four-year-old granddaughter Leila Fleming were recovered from a lake inside a Miramar gated community at around 12 a.m. Monday after they were reported missing several hours earlier, Miramar police told the Sun-Sentinel.
A cup with designs from "The Little Mermaid" seen floating in the water led police to the victims. Autopsies determined that Fleming and her granddaughter died from drowning.
Investigators do not suspect foul play was involved, Miramar police spokeswoman Tania Rues, told the Sun-Sentinel.
"Unfortunately, it appears they had been deceased for a period of time," Rues said. "Based on accounts from family members, neither the grandmother nor the 4-year-old knew how to swim."
Fleming and Leila left their lake-side Silver Shores community home at around 7 p.m. Sunday to feed the ducks. Family members called 911 several hours later when the two did not return. Police received a missing persons report at around 11 p.m., Rues said.
Searchers and volunteers used flashlights to scale the neighborhood around the house where Fleming lived with her husband, her granddaughter and her son, who was Leila's father. The granddaughter's mother lives at a separate location.
Both victims were pulled from the water within five minutes of each other after the child's Disney cup was spotted. It is not officially clear what led to the drowning, but Leila's cousin Lourdes believes the 4-year-old might have accidentally fell into the water, CBS Miami reported.
"They fed the ducks and Leila, I guess, she tripped over the edge. And Laura tried to save her but Laura doesn't know how to swim. So she died, trying to save her," said Lourdes.
