SPRING HILL — Frank and Magda Martin had just celebrated their daughter Mikaela’s first birthday on May 14 with a party by the pool.
“She had her own cake. She was in her high chair,” Magda said. “It still feels unreal. It feels like I’m going to wake up and she’s going to be here.”
On Friday afternoon, Magda found Mikaela floating in the pool behind their home at 8369 Belmont Road. The toddler was rushed to Oak Hill Hospital in Spring Hill, where she was pronounced dead about 5:40 p.m.
The family had been making dinner, Magda said, when Mikaela somehow slipped through the sliding-glass door overlooking the pool. The door, normally locked, sounds an alarm when opened, Magda said, but she didn’t hear it.
“That’s what’s so baffling — we were so careful all the time,” said Magda. “You wish you could go back in time for five minutes.”
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