A tragic vacation turned into a nightmare for a Washington, D.C., family when a toddler drowned in a hot tub while staying at an Airbnb in Florida, authorities say.
Osceola County deputies were called to a home on Nice Court in Kissimmee just after 3:30 a.m. Saturday after reports of an unresponsive child. Paramedics rushed the 20-month-old girl to a nearby hospital, but she was pronounced dead about an hour later.
According to a probable cause affidavit, 33-year-old Reynard Tyrone Hough, the girl’s father, admitted to detectives that he had been drinking and had taken “two different types of unknown narcotics” the night before. In a post-Miranda interview, Hough said he went into the master bedroom between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., where he saw his daughter’s mother and an infant asleep.
Hough told investigators he noticed the toddler was awake and wanted to be with him, so he picked her up and went outside to the backyard hot tub. He allegedly fell asleep while holding his daughter for about 20 minutes. He woke up when he felt the child’s head “drop” and realized she was limp.
He ran inside to alert the girl’s mother but reportedly did not mention that they had been in the hot tub. The mother then called 911. When first responders arrived, they found the child unresponsive and “foaming at the mouth,” the affidavit states.
Investigators said Hough could not provide a reasonable explanation for why he took a 1-year-old who could not swim into a 37-inch-deep hot tub at around 3 a.m., in approximately 55-degree weather, while under the influence of alcohol, according to the complaint.
Hough, who was vacationing with his family at the Airbnb, is now facing charges of aggravated manslaughter of a child and child neglect with great bodily harm. He is being held at the Osceola County Jail without bond.
He drank AND took “two different types of unknown narcotics”. In the photo you can clearly see he is still under the influence. Why anyone would leave someone in that condition in charge of a child of ANY age is beyond me. Why did the mother not intervene – could she not see his impaired condition? And why – WHY – bring a toddler anywhere NEAR a hot tub when you know, even impaired, that you are in no condition to tend to said child? So many red flags and no suitable answers. My heart goes out to that child.
He’s sleeping in his mugshot!!
That’s one sleepy dude!!