Police said the girls, ages 5 and 8, were found after a neighborhood search Monday evening.
PENSACOLA, FL — Two young sisters died Monday evening after they were found unresponsive in a neighbor’s swimming pool on Gerhardt Drive, leaving residents shaken and investigators working to determine how the children entered the fenced yard.
The deaths have drawn grief across Pensacola’s Cordova Park area, where police, firefighters and emergency medical crews searched for the girls after their family reported them missing. Authorities said the children, ages 5 and 8, were taken to Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola, where they were pronounced dead. Police said the case remained under investigation, but they had not found evidence that the girls’ parents were negligent.
Pensacola police said officers were called shortly after 6:30 p.m. Monday after the girls’ father realized they were no longer at home. Police Public Information Officer Mike Wood said the father had been preparing dinner and was also home with a third child when he noticed the sisters were missing. “The father was there with them,” Wood said. “He looked around the home for a little while, then they called us.” Officers began searching the home and nearby area in the 500 block of Gerhardt Drive. About 40 minutes later, an officer spotted the girls in the pool next door to their home.
Wood said one child was at the bottom of the deep end and the other was floating in the water when the officer found them. The officer got a chair, climbed over the fence and jumped into the pool to pull the children out, police said. First responders started CPR at the scene before the girls were taken to the hospital. Escambia County officials said a 911 call about a drowning came in around 7:11 p.m., and EMS, Pensacola police and the Pensacola Fire Department responded. Authorities believe the sisters may have been in the water for as long as 55 minutes before they were found, though the exact timeline remained part of the investigation.
Investigators said the neighboring backyard had a fence, and the pool itself had a second security fence. Wood said both fences were secure and locked when police reviewed the scene. Based on the early investigation, police believe the 8-year-old may have climbed a fence and opened a gate for her younger sister. Wood said the older child had been seen climbing before and was known by those around her as athletic and adventurous. Police said the girls may have entered the shallow end before the pool’s steep, slick slope into deeper water caused one of them to struggle. Wood said investigators believe one sister may have tried to help the other.
The family knew the neighbors who owned the pool, but the children were not regular visitors at the home, Wood said. Police have not publicly released the girls’ names. They also have not said whether any security video, physical evidence or additional witness statements showed exactly how the children reached the pool area. Wood said parts of the police theory remained preliminary because no one saw the full sequence of events inside the water. He said investigators did not have reason to believe the mother or father acted negligently, noting that dinner plates had been set out as the father prepared the evening meal.
The deaths brought a heavy response from city leaders and residents. Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves said the city’s heart was broken by the loss of “two precious children” and thanked the first responders, law enforcement officers and medical workers who rushed to help. In a WKRG report, neighbors described the scene as devastating for the family, the neighborhood and the city. The search had turned a quiet residential block into an emergency scene, with police vehicles, fire crews and medical responders converging near homes where many residents know one another by sight.
No charges had been announced as of Thursday, and police said the investigation was continuing. The next steps include completing the review of the scene, confirming the timeline and documenting how the girls entered the pool area.
Author note: Last updated June 11, 2026.