Boy with autism drowns in Fort Myers pond

A Fort Myers family is heartbroken they will never get see their little boy running around smiling again after he drowned in Lee County.

7-year-old Braylin Staco drowned in Lee County on Friday; his family found his body in a pond at the Town Treeline Luxury apartment community off Grand Jardin Drive.

Braylin’s aunt told WINK News he had autism, and she thinks his death could have been prevented.

Family members we spoke with who do not live with the young boy tell me they have been absolutely heartbroken after learning that their loved one drowned in the retention pond just over the gate.

“I don’t eat, I cannot sleep. It’s hard,” said Marie Staco, Braylin’s grandmother. “I don’t know how I’m going to handle it.”

Fort Myers police said they responded to the gated community. DCF said the boy was found unresponsive in a pond after he got out of the home undetected.

Carmen Vazquez and her mother-in-law Marie Staco are family members of the loved little boy.

Vazquez said, “He was left unattended and got out and ended up drowning in the lake here at his home; he was a seven-year-old autistic nephew of mine, like she said, was loved by many.”

They told us he always had his blue iPad in hand and a smile on his face.

“I know he’s hyper; I have to stop doing everything I do so I can care for him. So I love him, and my son loved that boy so much,” Staco said.

“He was like, so happy and energetic. He just like, he had sensory overload,” Vazquez said.

Braylin’s aunt said as a child with autism, his sensory overload typically caused him to gravitate towards water.

Vazquez said, “It’s sad that you know he went out doing and just trying to get to something that he loved so much.”

We are working to understand how 7-year-old Braylin got to the pond in the first place.

FMPD said they are leading this active investigation but haven’t been able to confirm much more than that at this time.

We have also reached out to DCF about this case and are still waiting to hear back.