Toddler drowns in eastern Ohio river
5/21/2013AKRON, Ohio — Authorities say a 2-year-old boy drowned in a river in eastern Ohio after wandering away from his family’s cabin.
The autistic boy and his family are from Akron and were staying in a cabin near the Muskingum River when Andrew “Drew” Howell went missing Saturday. The family later found him in the river.
The Akron Beacon Journal reports that the toddler was pronounced dead later at a hospital in Zanesville.
Laurie Cramer, director of the Autism Society of Greater Akron, was asked to talk to the media on behalf of the grieving family. She said Drew wandered away from the cabin and must have headed straight to the river, about 100 yards away. His mother said she turned her attention away for no more than 30 seconds.