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Missing 4-year-old Florida girl's body found in pond

Posted at 2:55 AM, Dec 03, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-04 08:55:17-05

PORT ST. LUCIE, Florida — The body of a 4-year-old girl who went missing Saturday night in Port St. Lucie was recovered overnight from a pond near her family's house.

Chelsea Noel's body was found at the edge of a pond by a Saint Lucie County Sheriff’s dive team about 27 hours after going missing.

A U.S. marshal first discovered something of interest in the water on a kayak before midnight.

The body of water, located off Southwest Hallmark Street and Abacus Avenue, is two blocks from her parent’s house.

Police said Chelsea walked out the front door of her house on SW Keats Street near Becker Road just east of Interstate 95 around 9:50 p.m. Saturday

Port St. Lucie Police do not believe anyone tried to do any harm to Chelsea.  There is new video that police have that led them to believe that she left her house and just wandered into the pond.

“It looks like the child ran out of the house, got disoriented and ended up in the lake right away,” Port St. Lucie Chief John A. Bolduc. “The family is very, very distraught, they’ve lost a 4-year-old child. That’s the biggest tragedy I can think of.”

Police said video from the family’s house shows Chelsea’s dad running after her less than a minute after she left the home.

The medical examiner will perform an autopsy to confirm the cause of death.