Three-year-old autistic girl from Preetz drowned in parents' garden pool after search missed it twice

disappearance and search

A three-year-old girl identified as Bella S. left her home in Preetz, Schleswig-Holstein, on Wednesday midday with an unknown destination. Police described the child as autistic, visually and hearing impaired, and in urgent need of medical assistance, with a tendency to hide. Her parents reported her missing on Wednesday afternoon, triggering a large-scale search involving a helicopter, drones, sniffer dogs, thermal cameras and volunteers from Kiel, Preetz, Klausdorf and Eutin. Officers from the Kiel police directorate and the Eutin riot police, along with volunteer fire brigades from Preetz and Klausdorf, searched through the night until the early hours of Thursday.

Discovery and autopsy result

The child was found dead in a pool on her parents' property on Thursday at approximately 09:30. A preliminary autopsy confirmed drowning as the cause of death, the Kiel police directorate announced on Friday. No signs of violence were detected. The forensic examination also confirmed the identity of the child as the missing Bella S. Senior prosecutor Michael Bimler told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur that a death investigation procedure (Todesermittlungsverfahren) had been initiated, meaning there was no initial suspicion of a crime but rather evidence was being secured.

Pool search failures

Police acknowledged that the pool where the child was eventually found had not been thoroughly searched during the first sweep of the property around 14:00 on Wednesday. According to police, only a superficial visual inspection of the pool was carried out at that time. A more thorough search of the pool was conducted around midnight, but the child was not discovered then either. Police said it remained unclear why the midnight search of the pool did not lead to finding the child.

“Here we must of course also examine the question of whether a supervision failure or something similar could have played a role. But it is too early to assess that now.”

Police correction and timeline uncertainty

The Kiel police directorate explicitly retracted earlier statements about the presumed time of death in a correction issued on Friday afternoon. What is certain, police stated, is that the child had been dead for several hours before the body was recovered. According to the current state of knowledge, the girl fell into the pool immediately after her disappearance and was already drowned by the time police search measures began. A more precise determination of the time of death is not possible, though police believe it was well before the midnight search.

Community response

The disappearance prompted a large outpouring of solidarity in Preetz. Residents placed stuffed animals, flowers and candles outside after the news was confirmed. Anke Johanßon, the second deputy mayor of Preetz (SPD), expressed her condolences in an interview with NDR Schleswig-Holstein.

“In our thoughts, our wishes of course also go to the family of the little girl.”

She praised the willingness of the rescue workers and the public to help, saying a wonderful community had formed to assist. The investigation into the exact circumstances of the death continues, and a final autopsy result is still pending.