Vilma Martinez was drinking a beer and talking to her sister on the phone before her 2-year-old great-granddaughter was found face down in their swimming pool.
Miguel Martinez-Diaz was laying sod in the back yard of the Hephzibah home before the girl was found. He said he left the back door unlocked when he came outside to work.
The couple were babysitting great-granddaughter Natalia Felix on the day she drowned in their pool, according to a sheriff’s report. She’s 64. He’s 69.
Neither have been charged in the death, and the sheriff’s office said last week that the case remains open.
The coroner said Natalia fell into a pool. A sheriff’s report sheds new light on the girl’s July 15 death at the home on Hollins Drive.
As the girl was being rushed to the hospital, officers separated the great-grandparents, who were present and babysitting Natalia.
Mrs. Martinez advised she was drinking a beer and talking to her sister on the cell phone. “Some unknown time passed and when she ended her call she went looking for Felix,” the report says. “Vilma stated when she went out back of her residence, she observed Felix floating face down in the swimming pool. Vilma stated she jumped in the pool and retrieved Felix from the pool and began screaming for her husband.”
The husband told authorities that “when he went outside to do some yard work, Felix was inside the residence with Vilma.”
“Miguel stated he went out through the back door which he left unlocked to work on laying sod in the yard,” the report says. “Miguel stated he was outside no more than 30 minutes before he heard Vilma screaming at which point he ran into the back yard to see Felix lying unresponsive on the deck by the pool.”
Once Mr. Martinez-Diaz arrived, they called 911 for help. Augusta Fire officials along with Central EMS tried to resuscitate the girl in the back of the ambulance before heading to the hospital. She was rushed to Augusta University Medical Center the same day, where she was pronounced dead at 8:11 p.m. Saturday.
A Facebook post by the funeral home says the girl was the daughter of Henry Vashaun Felix and Celeste Lilith Arrastia.
Visitation was held from 2-4 p.m. last Sunday at Chance and Hydrick Funeral Directors, 2502 Richmond Hill Road in Augusta
An obituary says what the girl loved the most was swimming.
