DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say they were called multiple times to the home of a Florida Panhandle boy who drowned in a backyard pool.
Stephanie Williford Howell was charged Wednesday with child neglect in the Sept. 3 death of her 3-year-old son Karson in a Defuniak Springs pool.
The Northwest Florida Daily News reports (http://bit.ly/1pWry2n ) that according to Walton County authorities, Karson was pulled unconscious from another pool three weeks before he drowned.
In May, the sheriff's office says Karson's grandfather — a deputy — found the boy sitting alongside a highway after slipping away unnoticed from six other adults. In another incident, Karson's younger brother was hospitalized with severe sunburns after a family beach outing.
Williford Howell was held on $10,000 bail. Jail records did not show whether she had an attorney.
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Information from: Northwest Florida Daily News (Fort Walton Beach, Fla.), http://www.nwfdailynews.com
