Parents arrested, charged three years after children drown in east Columbus
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Three years after two children died from drowning in a pool, their parents have been arrested.
According to the U.S. Marshals Service, Kenneth Deer and Patricia Davis were arrested, respectively, over 800 miles west of Columbus and in Canton. They were charged with involuntary manslaughter and endangering children, three years after their children, ages two and four, died in the 1900 block of Walnut Hill Park on the Far East Side.
The drownings occurred on June 4, 2021. Both children, Prince Deer and Victoria Deer, were pronounced dead shortly after at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
The siblings were reportedly playing near a swimming pool while their mother was home. The pool was described as inground and covered with grass and algae. Their deaths were classified as a drowning, and police did not believe the incident to be criminal in nature.
The Columbus Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team adopted the case and discovered Deer was no longer living in the Columbus area.
On April 26, U.S. Marshals charged the parents in the death of the siblings. Deer was arrested on June 17 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by the U.S. Marshals North Oklahoma Violent Crimes Task Force. Davis was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Northern District of Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force on June 21 in Canton.
Both were apprehended without incident and will be extradited to Columbus.