A six-year-old child was discovered dead just four hours after going missing from her family home in Australia.
The remains discovered in a river beneath the Grotto were identified as Airlie Montgomery, a nonverbal child on many drugs.
Arlie was last seen in North Nowra, on the NSW South Coast, around 2:15pm on Sunday. Airlie got missing in The Grotto Walk, a woodland region with a ledge. Her residence was only 800 metres from the cliff’s edge. The police are not investigating her death as suspicious, saying it was an unfortunate accident.
Katie Amess, Airlie’s mother, was overcome with sadness and refused to talk to reporters about her daughter’s death. “I can’t speak right now. “I can’t say anything,” she sobbed as neighbors rushed to soothe her.
Cathy, a close neighbor and the last person to see Airlie alive, told Daily Mail Australia that the young girl normally played on a grass strip outside a house two doors down from her parents’ home. Cathy claims Airlie died as a result of a neck injury.
“She was a sweet little creature, always smiling and blowing kisses whenever she saw you. But she was weeping yesterday, and I didn’t see her. “She must have wandered off,” Cathy explained.
The neighborhood banded together to look for Airlie, but their quest ended in despair when they discovered she had fallen over the cliff above the Grotto.
Airlie attended North Nowra Public School, and the Montgomery family lives nearby.
Corey Montgomery, Airlie’s father, was pictured leaving the school with a bouquet of exquisite pink flowers after visiting on Monday. Several further floral tributes have been placed at the family residence.
Unfortunately, this is not the first instance of an autistic child venturing into the woods. On December 2, 2024, police revealed that they had found the body of seven-year-old Jacob Baer in a river after the kid, who was diagnosed with Autism, went missing after going on a stroll with his father on Saturday. According to ABC affiliate WBAY, the youngster and his father were on a walk when Baer strayed away and his father lost sight of him.
After being unable to locate his son, the distraught father called 911 and filed a missing child report. Police were summoned to Veterans Park on School Street in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
On Saturday night, officers started a search that included the use of drones and aircraft, and they discovered many personal things belonging to Baer in a nearby river. The search for the missing kid continued on Sunday morning, when the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources identified a likely location in 5 to 6 feet of water.