A deputy coroner has ruled that a 2-year-old Western Slope girl who was found in an underground sewage-filled septic tank Wednesday died of accidental drowning.
Dr. Dean Havlik, with the Mesa County Coroner’s Office, performed an autopsy Thursday and determined that Ebony Williams drowned after falling into a septic tank that was covered with a large ball rather than a tank cover at her home north of Fruita.
Williams’ parents, Harold and Dama Williams, reported the girl missing Wednesday afternoon after she had been playing in the yard with a 3-year-old brother. The parents said the girl was out of their sight for about 10 minutes.
The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office began a search of the home and property for the girl about 2 p.m. Mesa County Sheriff Stan Hilkey said one deputy looked into the septic tank a few feet from the front of the rural home after rolling the ball away from the opening during an initial quick search of the Williams’ property.
He said the deputy did not see the girl. The ball was wedged into the opening of the 18-inch diameter septic tank opening but could be rolled off.
On a second sweep of the property several minutes later, the deputy looked in the septic tank again and spotted the pink-and-white hood of the child’s coat. The tank was filled with about 5 feet of sewage that came to within a foot of the top of the tank.
The deputy pulled the child from the tank, and with assistance of an officer from the Fruita Police Department attempted to resuscitate her.
Ebony Williams was pronounced dead after being transported to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction.
