Arvada police are still seeking answers in the death of Kristina Vlassenko, an autistic 10-year-old whose body was found Tuesday morning in a water-filled hole at a construction site.
In an interview Wednesday with 9News, Kristina’s father, Sergei, said she never wandered very far and, if she did manage to get out the front door, they would always find her in the front yard.
But Monday, while the family was working on heightening a fence so Kristina wouldn’t toss items into the neighbors’ yard, her parents looked up and she was gone.
Kristina was found about 400 yards away in the Harold D. Lutz Sports Complex when construction crews showed up to work Tuesday.
The family had a comfortable life in Russia but immigrated to the U.S. so Kristina could get better care.
Investigators are waiting on an autopsy to officially determine Kristina’s cause of death, but it is suspected that she drowned.
They also have begun consulting with Life Trak, the maker of the tracking bracelet Kristina wore, to determine why it did not emit a signal. Her family, which speaks little English, had the device tested at the Arvada police station every month.
Authorities think the bracelet might have failed because she was in the water. An expert in such systems said Tuesday that the beacons can be impeded by rough or mountainous terrain. Mounds of dirt surrounded the hole where she was found.
Sergei told 9News that the bracelet was working when his daughter’s body was recovered. The water was 8 feet deep.
