Toddler drowns in lake behind East Naples home

EAST NAPLES, Fla. A 2-year-old boy drowned Tuesday in a lake behind an apartment off Radio Road, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said.

Peter Mitchell was pulled from the water by a witness and taken by EMS personnel to NCH North Naples hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to a sheriff’s office incident report.

Deputies received a call in reference to a missing child around 7:05 p.m. at an apartment on the 400 block of Valerie Way, between Radio Road and Interstate 75, the sheriff’s office said. The family had just moved into the home a week ago.

Witness William Letchworth heard the child’s mother screaming and began to help in the search for the boy, the incident report states. He found his body floating face-down in the lake.

Letchworth performed CPR until emergency officials arrived on scene, the sheriff’s office said.

The child’s mother posted a message to Facebook on Wednesday calling it “one of the hardest nights of my life.”