KILLEEN, Texas — A mother whose 6-year-old son died after drowning in a Killeen apartment complex pool was booked into Bell County Jail Wednesday.
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Katie Rhea, 27, is facing a charge of abandoning or endangering a child. Her bond is set at $200,000.
Rhea told officers she left the child, who could not swim, and his 7-year-old brother at the pool while she went back to her apartment, arrest records say. The pool is 8 feet at its deepest end and the child did not have any type of flotation device.
The mother said no one at the pool was responsible for watching her children while she was at her apartment, according to the arrest affidavit.
Rhea also told investigators this was her tenth Child Protective Services case.
Police responded to reports of a child drowning at the Bridgewater Retreat Apartments on Memorial Day.
According to arrest records, a witness told officials he was swimming in the deep end of the pool when he saw something in the water. The witness said he and a friend pulled the boy's body out of the deep end of the pool.
Officers found the boy near the pool slipping in and out of consciousness and performed CPR.
The child was taken to McLane Children's Hospital in critical condition. He was pronounced dead at 2:47 a.m. May 31.
Another witness told police she came to the pool around 6:30 that evening and saw the boy playing in the pool when the adult left. She said she didn't see the boy again until he was pulled from the pool.
She said she also saw Rhea sitting by the door of her apartment and did not come out until someone told her it was her son who was pulled from the pool.
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