A 1-year-old boy from Palm Coast died Sunday after he fell into a water-filled septic tank at an Ocala apartment complex.
Marion County deputies received a call around 11 a.m. in reference to a missing child who wandered away from his guardian while walking around outside.
Deputies responded to Greenfield Apartments, located at 5390 S.E. 29th Place in Ocala, and found the child had fallen into a hole in the backyard of one of the units.
The boy has been identified as Wyatt Steed. He was visiting the area with his mother, deputies said.
According to deputies, the opening was about a 23-by-30-inch septic tank. It had an undetermined depth, but it contained water.
Kyle Tuten has lived in the complex for six months, and he didn't think the hole could be a hazard.
"It is going to haunt me for a long time going out there because it is kind of like seeing a grave," Tuten said.
Tuten said he knew something was wrong when he saw Marion County deputies surrounding the hole.
"If something like that happens, you have got to be aware," he said. "I don't know too much about the story and I don't know about the victim personally, but I have 100 (feet) of rope, and if I would have known what was going on, I wish I could have helped."
Investigators are still trying to determine if the child died from drowning.
"Everything floods around here," said Louis Bloncourt, a resident at the complex. "It isn't the best taken care of neighborhood."
Lauren Lettelier, public information officer for the Marion County Sheriff's Office, said the agency will investigate how the hole opened up.
"Did someone step on it and open it up? Did the child step on it and open it up?" Lettelier said. "There are a lot of variables that we are going to be looking at in this investigation."
The Sheriff's Office is also looking at how long the hole was there. The medical examiner will determine the cause of death.