Update on 8-month-old baby found floating in a bathtub

Child pronounced dead at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, August 11

Pinal County Sheriff's Office classifies drowning as "nothing short of a sad set of circumstances."

Elias Johnson, Public Information Officer with the Pinal County Sheriff's Office sent the following statement today, Friday, August 12:

"Doctors removed the baby girl's breathing tube at 11:30 a.m. - that's when child was pronounced dead.  She had no sign of brain activity for 24 hours.

We are actively investigating this death. We classify this as nothing short of a sad set of circumstances."

On Wednesday, August 10 at about 11:30 a.m.,the child's mother, Patricia Schettler, who lives with her husband and another young child in rural San Tan Valley, found the baby girl floating in the bathtub after she had turned away to get a towel. The mother ran with the child to a neighbors house and the neighbor called 9-1-1 while neighbors attempted CPR on the baby.

Paramedics who arrived at the scene also attempted CPR, but could not revive the child. On the way to the hospital, they discovered a faint pulse, but at  Cardon Children’s Medical Center in Mesa where the child was flown, doctors said they could not see any signs of brain function. The child was kept on life support for 24 hours before removing the breathing tube that kept her alive.