A 10-year-old boy was found dead in a pond near his home after authorities said he apparently sleepwalked out of his residence during the night.
Jackson Georgari was last seen at around midnight Thursday on doorbell camera video from the northern Kansas City apartment complex where he lived, according to the Kansas City Police Department.
Police reported him missing later that morning, prompting a large search involving four police departments, the Kansas City Fire Department and neighborhood volunteers.
After several hours of searching with the help of drones and K-9 teams, officers located Georgari’s body around noon Thursday in a pond roughly a mile south of his home — about 12 hours after he was last seen.
Kansas City police said fire and rescue crews tried to revive the child, but their efforts were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Investigators said there were “no immediate signs of foul play,” though the circumstances surrounding the boy’s death remain under investigation.
The medical examiner’s office is working to determine Georgari’s official cause and manner of death.
As the search was still unfolding, the child’s family told KMBC that he had a history of sleepwalking.
Jackson Georgari, 10, was found dead in a pond in Kansas City around noon on Thursday. Police said there were no immediate signs of foul play
Georgari had last been seen around midnight, when he sleepwalked out of his family’s home. Police announced he was missing Thursday morning and a large search effort followed
The boy was found in this pond located about a mile south of the apartment complex where he lived in northern Kansas City
Semina Richard, Georgari’s older sister, told the outlet that the first time he had sleepwalked was when the family was living in San Diego, before they recently moved to Kansas City.
‘Someone found him on the street and they called 911. They brought him over and he was found safely,’ Semina said of that incident.
The second time was after the family had moved to Missouri. ‘He ran away again, and he went all the way up there where his school is at because that’s the only place he recognizes,’ she said.
The little boy’s death has rattled the local community.
‘It hurts in your community when you have a kid that goes out in the middle of the night and whatever the circumstances were that led to him ending up in there,’ Kansas City Police Department Captain Jake Becchina told KCTV.
‘You feel for the family involved in this. It’s unimaginable. I can’t even imagine. They went to bed last night, and everything was normal. And now today they have to deal with this,’ the police captain added.
Neighbors who had participated in the search effort recounted their experience and expressed their heartbreak for the family.
‘I had an appointment this morning, right after the police had left. And I thought, well, maybe I’ll be lucky and find him. But he may have already been passed by that [point],’ Heather Meikenhous said.
Georgari’s family said he had sleepwalked twice in the past. He is pictured with a loved one
Kansas City Police Department Captain Jake Becchina said the family and community are devastated by the loss of the little boy
Georgari had last been seen in doorbell camera footage from this apartment complex where he lived
‘It’s just so sad. My heart goes out for his parents. And please, please get peace. I wish you the best,’ she added.
Estela Yslas, a resident who has lived in the neighborhood for 40 years, told KCTV it was the first time she had seen anything like this happen in the area.
‘I would like to tell them that I prayed for them, and I’m so sorry for their loss. But I prayed that they will find them. But not like that,’ Yslas said in a message to Georgari’s family.
The Briarcliff Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization confirmed that the boy was a student at the school in a statement shared on social media.
‘We extend our deepest condolences to the student’s family, friends, classmates, teachers, and everyone whose lives were touched by him,’ the statement said.
‘Please continue to hold this family and our entire Briarcliff community close in your hearts,’ the parent teacher organization added.
Georgari would have started fifth grade when school resumes in the fall.
