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A 3-year-old Fort Wayne girl died Saturday at a family’s Thanksgiving gathering on the city’s north side after she fell into the home’s sump pump pit, according to Allen County police.
Police were called about 2 a.m. Saturday to a home in the 15200 block of Auburn Road. There, officers found a woman performing CPR on the girl in the basement and about eight family members crying and screaming.
The girl, Alexis Nichole Stark-Bork, was taken by ambulance to Parkview Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. An autopsy was performed Saturday. Her death was ruled accidental due to asphyxia due to drowning.
According to police, the girl was last seen watching TV in the home’s living room. About 20 minutes later, the girl’s parents noticed she was missing, police said. As family searched for the girl, they heard screaming coming from the basement. The girl was then found lying face down in the sump pump pit, police said.
The homeowner told police he did not know there was a problem until he heard screaming. He said there should have been a cover on the sump pump pit. An officer found the cover about 6 feet from the pit – underneath a futon.
“She was absolutely a little ray of sunshine,” said her great-grandmother Patricia Stark of Fort Wayne. “She was too good and too smart for this nasty world.”
Funeral arrangements are being handled by D.O. McComb & Sons Lakeside Park Funeral Home. Meanwhile, no charges have been filed in connection to Alexis’ death, but the Allen County Prosecutor’s Office is reviewing the matter.
