For family of 7-year-old girl who died in Florida sand hole, a vacation is upended by tragedy
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A family of four traveled from Indiana to South Florida for a beach vacation, only to have their world upended: Their 7-year-old daughter, Sloan, died Tuesday when a hole she had dug in the sand collapsed on her and her brother, burying them.
Their parents were identified in a GoFundMe as Jason and Therese Mattingly, residents of Fort Wayne. Sloan’s 9-year-old brother, Maddox, was also in the 5-to-6-foot hole but survived. He was buried only up to his chest, while Sloan was completely buried beneath him.
“A freak accident happened yesterday while we are here on vacation and it took away our greatest 7.5 years,” Therese Mattingly said in a statement on the GoFundMe page. “Don’t tell us you’re sorry for our loss … don’t do that to us. We experienced the purest human being and we are forever changed by her. We love you beyond any stretch of the imagination. Our sweet Sloan. What we would give.”
Sloan and Maddox were digging the hole in the sand in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, just north of Anglin’s Fishing Pier, about 3 p.m. Tuesday when it began to collapse on top of them, officials said. Maddox’s parents put him in a Broward Sheriff’s Office car, and he was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
A woman calling 911 told the operator in a shaky voice that people were trying to dig a child out of the sand directly behind High Noon Resort. Screaming could be heard in the background. She said the father yelled for help and the mother shouted that her daughter was in the hole.
“Everybody’s screaming,” the woman said in the call. Voices could be made out shouting a few words in the background — “my son” and “she’s under” were heard.
The operator asked if anyone was obviously injured.
“They have not gotten the child out,” the caller responded. “They’re digging.”
The beach had no lifeguards, who might have stopped the children from digging the hole so deep. Most South Florida beaches have rules about digging in the sand, either prohibiting holes entirely or requiring them to only sit knee- to waist-deep.
Sand holes are more dangerous than people think, and result in more deaths than shark attacks. Experts say that most people can only survive 3 to 5 minutes beneath the sand, the amount of time they can hold their breath. They advise digging sand holes no deeper than 2 feet.
Sloan was a first-grader at Lafayette Meadows Elementary School in Roanoke, Indiana, just southwest of Fort Wayne, reports say.
“Sloan Mattingly was a bright, sweet, loving 1st grade student in Ms. Vanbrocklin’s class,” the school’s principal wrote in a statement. “Sloan passed away on Tuesday. We will be talking with Ms. Vanbrocklin’s class, as well as Ms. Kilbourne’s class, as Sloan’s brother is a member of that classroom, on Thursday.”
Jason Mattingly runs a carpentry business called D&S Interiors, according to his Facebook page. Pictures on his profile show the family by the beach, Sloan smiling and Maddox grinning. His cover photo is a picture of Sloan.
“Please be patient as we are dealing with the loss of our daughter,” D&S Interiors wrote on Facebook Wednesday. “If you need to reach us, please message and we will have our employee reach out.”
Mattingly told WANE 15 that Sloan was “full of life” and “always smiling.”
The fundraiser is to help the family pay for funeral expenses and to have Sloan’s body transported back to Indiana. People from South Florida to Indiana have donated, raising close to $30,000.
“Jason, Therese and Maddox are having to navigate a road that no family ever wants to have to even think about navigating,” wrote Sally Krouse, the organizer of the fundraiser on behalf of the family. “What started as an amazing family trip quickly turned into the devastatingly tragic loss of their 7-year-old daughter/sister Sloan.”
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