Chattooga County, Georgia Sheriff Mark Schrader says the investigation continues into the death of a six year old girl who was found unresponsive in a swimming pool in Subligna on Saturday evening.

The child, identified as Rebecca “Grace” Stephens, passed away on Sunday at Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital in Atlanta. 

The sheriff says that the child, along with her siblings, ages four and eight, were left with a 25 year old babysitter while the parents were gathering eggs in a nearby chicken house.

Investigators said the sitter was on the back porch of the home where the family lives with the children playing outside and at some point, the children wandered over to a neighbor’s residence, where there’s an in-ground swimming pool.  The neighbor’s home is around 100 yards from where the babysitter was sitting on the back deck.  The neighbors weren’t home at the time.

The siblings of the little girl ran back to tell the babysitter, who reportedly came to the pool and tried to pull the little girl to safety.  The babysitter’s first attempt to retrieve the girl from the pool was unsuccessful and after attempting to rescue the girl the first time, the babysitter called 9-1-1.  The babysitter then re-entered the pool and was able to pull the little girl from the deep end.  Firefighters with the Gore Fire Department were first to arrive on the scene and began administering CPR to the child, who was unresponsive at the time.

The girl was transported by Redmond EMS first to a Rome-area hospital then on to Scottish Rite in Atlanta, where she died the following day.

(WRGA/www.wrgarome.com)