As neighbors at a southeast Denver apartment complex searched frantically for a missing 6-year-old boy Friday, they didn’t know that his body was at the bottom of a pond only steps away from them and his family’s front door.
Orion Colligan drowned Friday evening as his parents were moving into The Lakes at Monaco Pointe complex.
“It’s tragic,” said Steve Hasenbalg, a resident who joined in the search. “I don’t understand why he was by himself.”
Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson said Saturday the drowning is being investigated and added: “Based on early indications it looks like it’s a tragic accident.”
The Denver coroner’s office was performing an autopsy on Colligan on Saturday, officials said.
Police were called to the complex, which has two ponds, about 5 p.m. on a report of a missing child. The boy’s parents had lost track of him.
“They were in the process of unpacking,” according to Alex Paez, Denver Fire Department spokesman.
Firefighters were then called to the complex at 6:20 p.m. after a neighbor reported possibly seeing the child near one of the ponds, Paez said.
The pond is about 4 feet deep, but it was too murky to see the bottom, he said. Searchers waded through the water searching for the boy. Divers found the body about 20 minutes later about 6 feet from the edge of the doughnut-shaped pond with an island in the middle.
The boy was rushed to a local hospital, Paez said.
On Saturday the two ponds — a short distance from the apartment of the Colligan’s family — were drained.
Stephanie Brooks, regional property manager of The Lakes at Monaco Pointe apartments, declined to comment on the drowning Saturday but said, “Our hearts and our prayers go out to the family.”
Near a patio door where the family lived in a ground-floor apartment, neighbors left bouquets of flowers and cards.
Beside the pond where the boy’s body was found flowers were left along with a flier with a photo of Orion smiling. It read: “Rest in peace. God bless you beautiful boy.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
