By Tony Kukulich
A toddler who was reported missing in Port Royal Wednesday evening, Aug. 31, was found dead, the apparent victim of an accidental drowning.
The body of 3-year-old Mason Henley was discovered in a pond in his Shadow Moss neighborhood.
According to the Port Royal Police Department (PRPD), officers arrived at 7:25 p.m. and initiated a search for the boy, who had reportedly wandered off from his home on Cedar Creek Circle about
40 minutes earlier.
A neighbor’s doorbell camera captured video images of Henley chasing ducks near his home. A dive team discovered the boy’s body about 20 feet from the shoreline of a pond located behind his residence.
The coroner has not yet released the official cause of death, but police suspect it to have been an accidental drowning.
An advisory issued by the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) Wednesday at 10:37 p.m. stated that Henley had been located, but did not indicate that the boy had died. That did not become clear until 8:30 Thursday morning when the PRPD followed up with a press release revealing the circumstances of the boy’s death.
A spokesperson for the BCSO said a large number of people showed up to look for the boy, and they needed to be advised that the search had ended. As the case was the responsibility of the PRPD, notification of the outcome was that agency’s responsibility.
“To have commented on the outcome of another agency’s case would have been inappropriate,” said Maj. Angela Viens, BCSO public information officer. “Plus, there are concerns about making sure the family has been notified.”
Officers from the Port Royal Police Department were joined in the search by personnel from the Beaufort/Port Royal Fire Department and BCSO deputies as well as the BCSO dive team, helicopter and K-9 team.
Tony Kukulich is a recent transplant to the Lowcountry. A native of Wilmington, Del., he comes to The Island News from the San Francisco Bay Area where he spent seven years as a reporter and photographer for several publications. He can be reached at tony.theislandnews@gmail.com.
