Local family holds vigil for 2-year-old that drowned in retention pond

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A local family is saying goodbye to their two-year-old girl who passed away, Tuesday night. Melani Ava White drowned at a retention pond at the Bennett Creek apartment complex on the Southside.

The family held a vigil for her on Wednesday night.

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“That was my pride, that was my joy, that was my everything,” Melani’s mom, Amaya White said over tears.

Amaya said her daughter was in the process of getting diagnosed with autism.

The family said the toddler wandered off Tuesday night. Amaya said she was nonverbal, complicating the search.

Autism advocates say bodies of water pose a dangerous threat to kids with autism.

“I blacked out, my baby has autism, and I knew she was going to be by the water, and I just couldn’t breathe,” Amaya said. “I just wanted people to go by the water.”

Heartbroken and devastated, Amaya said she was frantic.

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The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responded to the Bennett Creek Apartments around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. When they got there, JSO said they found her in the pond and tried to save her. She was taken to the hospital, where police said she was pronounced dead.

“I’m sad because I miss my baby, but I’m also very upset right now because it seems like every month or so there is a child being pulled out of these waters – the retention ponds,” Melani’s great-grandmother Frankie Washington said.

Washington said she is demanding change to keep other children like Melani safe.

“I don’t understand how a body of water like this can be open especially when you have hundreds of kids living in these complexes,” Washington said. “We’ve got to protect them.”

And in February, Action News Jax told you about a mother who lost her baby, Musiq Jordan-Dye, in a retention pond at a different apartment complex.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Haggard Law Firm personal injury attorney Adam Finkel said. “Everybody knows it’s one of the leading causes of death in Florida.”

Finkel is representing Jordan-Dye’s family and helped them file a lawsuit against the complex. He said this case is just one of dozens they handle.

“The Haggard Law Firm unfortunately has worked on far too many cases across this country where we have held the property owners and the management companies liable for these injuries and wrongful deaths,” Finkel said.

As for Melani, her family will remember her little light.

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“She was such a joyful little kid,” Washington said.

The property management team sent an email to residents saying they are working with police in this death investigation, and that their thoughts are with the family.

Washington said she plans to file her own lawsuit.

Action News Jax has reported on several drownings involving kids with special needs so far this year – with one almost every month over the summer.

We told you last month when a three-year-old boy drowned in Putnam County. In July, there was a 7-year-old girl who was found dead near her home in St. Johns County, and a 4-year-old Jacksonville boy who drowned in an Orlando resort. In March, a 4-year-old boy from Putnam County had also drowned in a river near his home.

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