2-year-old girl Emma Sweet was found in an Indiana river her death was ruled a homicide by drowning.
The Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office has found that the toddler, who went missing on Thanksgiving Day, was found deceased three days later and died from “complications of hypothermia and asphyxia due to drowning.”
“No actions were taken by her adult caregiver to rescue Emma Sweet from the dangerous environment and this inaction resulted in her death,” the Bartholomew County Sheriff alleged in a statement, “and thus the manner of death is homicide.”
Emma and her father, 39-year-old Jeremy Sweet, were reported missing on Thanksgiving Day — the day after they were last seen together.
On Nov. 26, duck hunters found Sweet submerged in his pick-up truck in the White River. He was still alive and was taken to the hospital for treatment for exposure to hypothermia.
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However, Emma was not with him it led to a widespread search by numerous agencies.
A diver with the Bartholomew County Water Rescue and Recovery Team discovered Emma’s body two days later — about three miles downstream from where her father was found.
Sweet was arrested on a felony charge of neglecting a dependent, resulting in death, and another charge of unlawful possession of a syringe on Dec. 1 according to the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office announced in a statement.
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Sheriff Matt Myers said Sweet gave differing accounts about what had happened to her after the toddler was found.
“What he originally said was that he possibly had dropped his daughter off someplace prior to that incident happening,” said Myers. “And then he said at the same time there shortly after that she was with him at the time he went into the water.”
At the time of Emma’s death, Sweet had been out of jail on bond on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon as well as possession of methamphetamine, Myers said.
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