Such A Tragedy: Drowned Woman's Body Found At The Bottom Of A Public Pool After 2 Days While Kids Swam In The Water! (9yr Old Told A Life Guard But Was Ignored & Nobody Noticed Her Missing)
"Police are investigating the death of 36-year-old
Marie Joseph, who was found in a public swimming
pool in Fall River.
Joseph was found floating in the Veterans Memorial
Pool at Lafayette Park at about 10 p.m. Tuesday.
She was pulled from the water and taken to a local
hospital, where she was later pronounced dead.
“I’m surprised she did go to the pool because she
doesn’t even know how to swim,” said Dee Reid, one
of the victim’s friends.
Authorities are trying to determine if she had
been in the water since Sunday and no one saw her
body under the 12 feet of water. Joseph reportedly
slipped on a water slide and went underwater.
“Are you telling me the lifeguards couldn’t see a
dead body,” said Candela Matta.
Matta is still in disbelief that no one saw
Joseph, allegedly for days. Joseph was last seen
on Sunday when she was helping a 9-year-old boy
down from the slide.
“Marie unexpectedly slid down the slide landing on
top of him. He further stated that Marie went
under the water and did not surface,” said Chief
Daniel S. Racine of the Fall River Police
Department.
This was heartbreaking news for Herbert Callwood,
Joseph’s boyfriend of eight years.
“I can’t really turn around say how I feel about
her because she’s not here anymore,” said
Callwood.
The pool was busy both Monday and Tuesday.
Swimmers said they didn’t see anything in the
water, though it was murky.
“It was a kind of like…white…white coloring,” said
one swimmer.
“My son asked why no one could go in the deep end
and they said because it was too cloudy,” said
Lisa Durden, one of the Joseph’s friends.
The pool is operated by the state Department of
Conservation and Recreation. The agency on
Wednesday closed all 30 of its deep water pools
until further notice and suspended the workers at
the Fall River pool.
The DCR Commissioner, Edward M. Lambert, Jr.,
released a statement on Wednesday saying:
“On behalf of the Department of Conservation and
Recreation, we express our deepest condolences to
the family and friends of Marie Joseph. By 5:30pm
today all 30 of DCR’s deepwater pools will be
closed while we conduct a full review of each
facility’s safety and operational procedures over
the next 24 to 48 hours. As of this hour, the
entire staff of the Veteran’s Memorial Swimming
Pool in Fall River has been placed on
administrative leave.
We will continue to cooperate fully with local and
state law enforcement during their ongoing
investigation.”
But none of that helps ease the loss of a friend.
“She’s got a dark complexion, how come they can’t
see?” said Durden.
The staff at the pool found Joseph’s cell phone
and ID. They turned it over to police, but because
there was no missing persons report filed they
didn’t make a connection until Joseph’s body
surfaced on Tuesday night" - WHDH