Madison Zaleski
•7/1/2026
Lee County deputies say a 7-month-old child died after drowning in a bathtub at a Lehigh Acres home on Saturday.
According to the Lee County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to the 700 block of Cane Street East in Lehigh Acres at 11:05 a.m.
According to the incident report, a woman said she stepped away while bathing the child for about five minutes.
Terrence Jackson lives a street over from where the baby died. The father of a 2-month-old says he first learned about the tragedy on Facebook.
"Just terrible situations. I feel like parents need to pay more attention, especially if you're a kid around water," said Jackson.
The sheriff's office says when the woman returned to the bathtub, the baby was reportedly floating and unresponsive.
Alissa Magrum with the National Drowning Prevention Alliance says drownings are often fast and silent, so no single prevention strategy is enough.
"With infants unfortunately, the most common place that we see drownings and water-related tragedies happening is in the bathtub, as well as water that is near and around the home," said Magrum.
One of the layers of protection is supervision by keeping your child within arm's reach.
"If you have to go do something, you remove the child from the water and you take them with you, or you drain all the water out of the bathtub," said Magrum.
The Florida Department of Children and Families was also notified, and an agent accepted the case, the report stated.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office says the case remains active. Detectives will work with the State Attorney's Office to determine if criminal charges are appropriate.
