A 9-year-old girl reported missing from her Northern Kentucky home was found dead late Saturday.
Jenny Dim went missing from her Macintosh Lane home in Florence around 5:30 p.m. Friday, March 13.
A wide-ranging effort involving multiple agencies and community search groups scoured the area all that night and through the day Saturday.
Dim, who was a non-verbal child, was found in a nearby pond, according to Boone County officials.
Dim’s aunt, who identified herself as Julie Par, thanked the Boone County community for their support and help searching for Dim in a post on Facebook.
“The number of people who showed up to support us and volunteered to search from dawn until dusk truly amazed us,” Par said. “The love and support we have received mean more than words can express.”
Children with autism sometimes ‘elope’ toward water
An IAN alert, a special alert for children with autism or mental illness who go missing and may be in danger, had been issued for Dim.
The alerts are named after Ian Sousis, who fled from the Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky and drowned in the Ohio River in 2022.
Across the U.S. in 2024, 69 children with autism drowned, nearly double the typical yearly average, according to the National Autism Association.
Children with autism sometimes wander away from parents or caregivers, a behavior known as eloping. Many autistic children are drawn to water because it offers a calming sensory effect, regardless of the temperature.
This weekend, just north of the Ohio River in Warren County, a 4-year-old child drowned in a pond at a Deerfield Township subdivision.