OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – A father faces charges after his 20-month-old daughter died early Saturday after being found unresponsive in a hot tub at a vacation rental, according to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said they responded around 3:30 a.m. to a home off Nice Court, listed as an Airbnb, for reports of a child who appeared to have drowned.
The toddler was taken to AdventHealth Celebration, where she was pronounced dead shortly after 4:30 a.m.
Detectives said the child’s father, 30-year-old Reynard Tyrone Hough, told investigators he brought his daughter into the hot tub and fell asleep while holding her. He awoke to find her unresponsive in his arms, according to the sheriff’s office.
According to the sheriff’s office, the family was visiting the area from Washington, D.C.
Hough was arrested and faces charges of child neglect with great bodily harm, deputies said.
Detectives later added a charge of aggravated manslaughter of a child.
On Monday, Hough faced a judge and based on the state’s intention to set a motion for pre-trial detention, the court decided not to set bond.
He remains in Osceola County jail.
A man who lives in the community said he is shocked.
“It should make us angry, when a child that young dies because they should definitely be supervised. It just should not have happened,” Broderick Sheffield told News 6.
The next hearing for Hough is set for Dec. 19.