The Arapahoe County Coroner confirmed the worst on Wednesday: The child’s body pulled from an icy pond earlier in the week has been positively identified as missing six-year-old David Puckett.
Aurora Police made the announcement on Wednesday in a news release, reading: “It is with a heavy heart that we have to report that we were notified by the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office that the boy who was discovered in the icy pond in Olympic Park has been positively identified as David Puckett.”
According to the release, the cause of death has not been determined, and the investigation into how or when David entered the pond is ongoing. There was no sign of traumatic injury.
David Puckett disappeared from his Auroro, Colorado, home on Saturday evening at around 5:30 p.m. His parents reported him missing an hour after losing track of him, and bloodhounds were sent out for search for the boy within an hour of the report. But an Amber alert was not issued until late Monday.
Earlier in the week, specialty dogs trained to track specific scents were brought into the investigation, and indicated interest in the pond — though searchers, including Puckett’s family, had already looked there and did not see any signs of broken ice. On Tuesday morning, a dive team found a child’s body in the pond, feared to be David’s.
David had a minor learning disability, and had wandered off from his home previously but was brought home safely by neighbors.
Photo: Aurora Police Department
