Body of missing 5-year-old girl found at Kemah marina

KEMAH, TX (KTRK) -- After an evening, night and then early morning of searching, the worst fears of a family and a community were realized, when a shadow beneath the water of a Kemah marina turned out to be the body of a missing 5-year-old girl.

Fiona Carroll, whose nickname was Kitty, had celebrated her fifth birthday Tuesday. Her family released a picture showing her smiling beside her birthday cake, decorated with characters from "Frozen." A second picture is more haunting now. It shows the little girl standing on the pier beside which her family's sailboat is docked at the marina.

On Wednesday night, according to Kemah police, Kitty was playing beside the boat, while her father worked on repairing and restoring the vessel. A friend said the family wanted to take it on a long voyage one day.

Apparently Kitty fell into the water; her pink pail, with which she had been playing to help "wash" the boat, was found floating beside the pier.

Kemah police said her father noticed she had disappeared "within moments."

Searching by police, the Coast Guard and Texas Equusearch revealed nothing during the long night.

Thursday morning, Kitty was found beneath the water, not far from the boat.

It was Equusearch founder Tim Miller who told Mark Carroll he had lost his child.

Carroll, said Miller, "had come to see how the search was going, and I said, we found her. He knew, and we both cried."

Miller also delivered on his promise to Kitty's mother.

"I don't make promises to many people, but I told her we'd find her," Miller said.

She had asked him to bring her daughter home from "out there."

As is required in all deaths of children, an autopsy will be performed.