HARFORD --- Sheriff’s officers are investigating the death of a three-month-old Thursday at Tri-County Pond on Lacey Road and are asking the public for information, according to the department.
Investigators “do not suspect any foul play,” stated Sgt. Mark Starner this afternoon in a news release, citing the preliminary autopsy reports.
Why the investigation is ongoing and the public is being solicited for information was unclear this afternoon and the Cortland County Sheriff’s Office could not be immediately reached for comment.
Deputies were dispatched at 12:15 p.m. to the pond to investigate the baby’s death, Starner stated in the release. The child’s family told officers they were camping in the area and “...the infant had become unresponsive,” he stated.
“Family members on-scene contacted 911 who assisted them in administering CPR in an attempt to revive the infant, but were unsuccessful,” Starner stated.
Why the child became unresponsive was not released by the department, nor was the child’s name or sex.
A Cortland County Coroner responded to the scene and pronounced the baby dead, according to the department. The infant was taken to Our Lady of Lourdes Memorial Hospital on Riverside Drive in Binghamton where a pathologist conducted an autopsy.
Tri-County pond is a “small, semi-remote pond” located at the intersection of Cortland, Tioga and Tompkins counties, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. It has only a third of a mile of total shoreline and is located in the 1,938 acre Robinson Hollow State Forest.
Primitive camping and sheltering in the area’s single lean-to is allowed in the forest, but there are no designated campsites, according to the DEC.
DEC Police and state Forest Rangers, as well the Richford Fire Department, Tioga County Sheriff’s Office, Dryden Ambulance and TLC Emergency Medical Services all responded to the incident.
Anyone with information regarding the investigation can call Sgt. Starner and the Sheriff’s Office at (607) 758-5541.
