Police in South Texas are investigating after the body of a missing 8-year-old girl was found inside a Houston-area hotel pool pipe over the weekend.
A Houston Police Department spokeswoman confirmed the girl died Saturday at the DoubleTree Hotel in the city's northwest. The hotel is located on US Highway 290 approximately 22 miles from downtown Houston.
Officers were called to the scene around 5:45 p.m. Saturday after a family reported their child missing.
Homicide detectives reported that the girl was swimming with her family in the hotel's “lazy river” before she died, according to a police news release.
A 17-year-old boy died at the sheriff's office.A teenager allegedly stole a deputy's gun and committed suicide in the lobby of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Office.
A girl's body is found inside a large pipe in the pool area.
Later that day, around 11:30 p.m., the girl's body was found “inside a large pipe in the pool area,” police said.
Local KTRK television reported that her body was discovered after searchers reviewed security camera footage and observed her go under and not resurface.
The paper reported that searchers drained the pool and sent a camera down one of the pool's pipes to a depth of about 20 feet and discovered the girl's body.
Paramedics arrived and the girl was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Murder at Walmart, Illinois:Walmart employee stabbed to death inside store; suspect charged with murder
The identity of the drowned girl is Alya Jayko.
The Harris County Forensic Laboratory identified the girl as Aliyah Jayko.
The agency said Aliyah's preliminary cause of death was “drowning and mechanical asphyxiation,” and her death appeared to be the result of an accident.
Police said officers are awaiting official autopsy results.
Anyone with information about the drowning was asked to contact Houston police.
The incident remained under investigation Monday.
Natalie Neisa Alland is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Contact her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her at X @nataliealund.