A 10-year-old boy who left his home overnight while sleepwalking was later found dead in a pond, police said.
Kansas City police said Jackson S. Georgari was discovered unresponsive in the water at about 12:30 p.m. Thursday near the Briarcliff Village shopping center in Kansas City. The location is roughly a mile south of his home, where he had last been seen about 12 hours earlier.
Emergency crews removed Jackson from the pond and tried to save him, but he could not be revived. Capt. Jake Becchina, a Kansas City Police Department spokesperson, told The Kansas City Star the boy was pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities said Jackson’s cause of death was not immediately determined, though investigators found no immediate indication of foul play. Officials said a medical examiner will conduct an autopsy to establish how he died.
Before the tragic discovery was made Thursday, Jackson’s family told KMBC 9 that he had a history of sleepwalking and did not know how to swim.
“The first time it happened was when we were in San Diego, and he (sleepwalked) and then someone found him on the street and they called 911. They brought him over and he was found safely,” said Semina Richard, Jackson’s sister.
“The second time, it was here. … We recently moved here from San Diego to Missouri. And he ran away again, and he went, like, all the way up there where his school is at because that’s the only place he recognizes,” she said.
Police said the investigation is ongoing.
The Parent Teacher Organization at Briarcliff Elementary School, where Jackson was a student, asked the school community to keep his family in their thoughts.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the student’s family, friends, classmates, teachers, and everyone whose lives were touched by him,” the organization posted on Facebook.
