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The death of a Warsaw toddler is believed to be an accident, according to Kosciusko County Coroner Larry Ladd.
Brandon Lee Rouch, who would have turned 2 on April 29, was found floating in Lake Sharon outside his Sandy Drive home shortly after 8 a.m. Wednesday.
Ladd said that an autopsy performed Wednesday afternoon in Fort Wayne indicates that the child's death was the result of drowning. "There is nothing inconsistent with anything other than drowning ... nothing for us to believe the death was anything other than accidental," Ladd said. However, the case remains under investigation.
According to the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department, the child's mother, Angel R. Rouch, was asleep in the residence when Brandon apparently left the home and fell into the lake. It is not known how long the child was in the water before his mother found him floating there. Police said the area where the child apparently fell into the water has a steep embankment.
Rouch told police that the child usually awakens her in the morning, but when she awoke and couldn't find him inside the residence, she began looking outside.
Brandon was on the shoreline of the lake when emergency crews arrived on the scene. A neighbor began CPR on Brandon and the effort to resuscitate him was continued by emergency personnel while the child was transported to Kosciusko Community Hospital. He was pronounced dead at 9:15 a.m. at KCH.
Assisting at the scene were personnel from Multi-Township Emergency Medical Service, Warsaw and Winona Lake fire and police departments and the Indiana Conservation Department.
