Family of seven-year-old killed in sand accident speaks
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — By now you may have heard about a seven-year-old girl who died while on a family vacation in Florida.
On Tuesday, Sloan Mattingly was playing in a hole on a beach with her brother when sand collapsed.
Sloan and her family are from Indiana, but there is an Oklahoma tie. The story made national headlines, and for the first time Sloan’s family is speaking publicly about what happened.
“She was always happy,” Sloan’s uncle, Chris Sloan, said. “She was really fun to be around. She had a lot of energy and just totally innocent, and that’s what hurts the most in all this.”
Sloan and her nine-year-old brother Maddox were on a family vacation near Ft. Lauderdale, Florida playing in the sand on the beach with their parents, Chris Sloan’s sister, Therese, and her husband, Jason. Sloan is her mother’s family’s namesake. They call her Sloanie.
“They were having a good time,” Chris said. “They were staying at an Airbnb. Everybody was really excited to actually see them out there.”
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Sloan’s father owns a drywall and painting business that often prevents the family from traveling.
“They don’t really go on vacation much, but they went to Ft. Lauderdale to the beach,” Chris said. “They’d been posting pictures the last couple of days they’ve been out there on social media.”
Along with social media posts, the entire family was keeping up with this rare family outing by group text. Sloan’s mother has seven siblings. The family is spread out all over the country. Sloan and Maddox would often use the group chat to send family members happy birthday videos. The brother and sister were inseparable – always together.
“Those are good memories,” Chris said.
Chris lives in Oklahoma.
“I got a text message as did everybody on the group chat to call a number for a conference call,” he said. “Once we all got on the line, my brother, David, said, ‘Ok. What I have to tell you is going to be the worst news of your entire life.’ And it was. He said that she had passed away, that Sloanie had passed away. Later we found out that after the sand had caved. She kept trying to grab up Maddox’s leg to get up out of the sand, and eventually he couldn’t feel her moving anymore. The sand had been up to his chest, and he was screaming for help, and a lot of people did come and help. There’s actually some video of that.”
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They were able to free Maddox, but it was too late for Sloan.
“She was non-responsive at the scene is what we know,” Chris said.
The family wants everyone to know the dangers of sand and how quickly and easily it can give way.
“Even if it saves one life just to know about this story,” Chris said. “This is real. It’s tragic. It’s happened. We’re working through it, and hopefully nothing like this ever happens to anyone else ever again.”
There is a GoFundMe page to help the family with expenses.
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