Deep End Of Public Pool Closed For 2 Days, Nobody Notices Woman Who Drowned

**Pennie** · June 30th, 2011, 09:17 PM

How do all these people not notice a dead women in a pool for over 2 days.

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...l-for-2-days/1

Massachusetts has closed 30 state-run pools while authorities investigate the suspected drowning of a 36-year-old woman whose body apparently floated unnoticed in a public pool for more than two days.

CAPTIONBy Candella Matta, AP
The body of Marie Joseph, 36, of Fall River was found at 10 p.m. Tuesday by teenagers who jumped the locked fence for an after-hours swim at the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Pool in the city's Lafayette Park. Police said she was last seen in the pool Sunday at 1 p.m. with neighbors. The pool was open to the public Monday and Tuesday, but the 12-foot-deep end was closed because the water was cloudy.

**Pene784** · June 30th, 2011, 09:48 PM

In the original articles I read the victim was said to have taken a neighbors child to the pool. He reported to the lifeguards that she had fallen and was hurt and had gone under in the pool and not surfaced and nothing was done. Somehow the child got home. The child also told his parents what happened and still nothing is done. The pool is open to the public for days and still this woman is not noticed. The entire staff and two inspectors have been suspended but they are claiming that the "pool was cloudy" as their defense. If the pool was so cloudy that you couldnt see people below the surface, shouldn't said pool have been closed? Period. Didn't anyone in this womans family or circle of friends or her employer report this woman missing at any point?

**Robynne** · July 1st, 2011, 02:11 AM

I wonder if the lifeguards can be charged with negligent homicide. The woman may have lived had they listened to the boy. And why in the hell did the parents not do anything?

**malq** · July 1st, 2011, 03:37 AM

Why would anyone worry about a dead body in the deep end? Chlorine kills anything. Illegal aliens use the pool all the time. I would be more worried about catching the Asian flu or Hepatitis from young illegal aliens sharting in the pool..

**Dakota Valkyrie** · July 1st, 2011, 11:12 AM

Health inspectors didn't even notice the body... that must have been some hellacious cloudy water. Who the hell would want to swim in it??

Pic taken Sunday: Marie Joseph holding daughter of a family friend in the swimming pool at Lafayette Park in Fall River, Mass.

The Lafayette Park public swimming pool where a woman’s body may have gone unnoticed for more than two days had an expired permit.
[...]

Friends said Joseph went swimming at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial swimming pool on Sunday. Her body was found Tuesday night.

Mayor William Flanagan says the pool’s permit had expired on Dec. 31. City health inspectors went to the pool on Monday and again on Tuesday, and reported only that the water seemed cloudy. The inspectors have been placed on paid leave.

The head of the state agency that oversees state-run pools says Joseph’s body apparently went unnoticed in the pool by other swimmers, lifeguards and inspectors. He called that possibility “a breakdown systematically somewhere.”

http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x1672...-lapsed-permit

Joseph had gone to Veterans Memorial Pool on Sunday with a group of friends. Her body was found Tuesday night, when youngsters jumped over a fence for a clandestine swim, police said.

Authorities said she had not been reported missing. Her friends said they thought she simply walked away from the pool. Her boyfriend’s calls went unreturned, but he thought she wanted to be alone.

After the discovery, Massachusetts officials closed 24 state-run deep-water swimming pools and suspended staff at the Fall River pool. Two Fall River inspectors also were placed on paid leave.

Joseph was a native of Haiti and had five children, though only an adult son lived with her, friends said. She worked as a housekeeper at a hotel in Newport, R.I. Her boyfriend said she could swim.

Her friend Veronica Reis, 21, said she had driven Joseph to the pool on Sunday.

At some point, Joseph and a 9-year-old boy in the group went into the pool from a slide, Reis said. After they splashed into the water, the boy noticed that Joseph hadn’t come back up, Reis said.

“He got up to the water and went to go tell the lifeguard,” said Reis, who talked the 9-year-old afterward. “The lifeguard said he was going to do a pool check. ... They never did that. They never did anything.”

Candela Matta, also at the pool with Joseph, said friends initially thought she simply had left. She said some of the friends waited for Joseph at the pool and a nearby park until 7 p.m. Sunday.

Investigators have spoken to the 9-year-old boy and the lifeguards who were on duty, said Gregg Miliote, a spokesman for Bristol County District Country Sam Sutter.
[...]

Dr. Lauren Smith, state public health medical director, said it’s unlikely that a body in the pool would create a health risk, because the chlorine in the water would keep it safe for human contact.

“I want to reassure the public (that) as disturbing as it is to you, there are no health risks associated with this,” she said.

Herbert Callwood, Joseph’s boyfriend of eight years, said that when his girlfriend didn’t return his calls earlier this week, he just thought she felt like being alone.

Callwood, 45, said he heard about Joseph’s death on the news.

“It’s too much bear. I just want to know what happened,” Callwood said. “And why did someone leave her like that?”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...QtH_story.html

**Pete Bondurant** · July 1st, 2011, 02:45 PM

Perhaps they thought it was a rather large turd.

**AngelFire** · July 1st, 2011, 04:55 PM

The pool was open to the public Monday and Tuesday, but the 12-foot-deep end was closed because the water was cloudy.

Reason # 120, for not going to public pools.

**Momzilla** · July 1st, 2011, 06:06 PM

I heard this last night on the local news- right away I thought something sounded wrong.

I can't imagine that she went to the pool without a bag/pocketbook, towel, shoes, clothes. If her friends thought she had "walked away and left the pool" what happened to her stuff? Did they think she left barefooted without any of her things?

Then you add on top of that the 9 year old's story about alerting life-gaurds and his parents, yet no bothers to search the pool?- come on, it's a pool, not the damn ocean, a thorough search should not be impossible. (where's Ray Kronk when ya need him?)

The creepy factor comes in when you realize that hundreds of people are swimming, splashing, diving in that pool for 2 days while her body, apparently, sits at the bottom. (I don't care how much chlorine was in that pool- I would be soaking in a tub of Lysol with PTSD if I had been in that water *shivers*)

But what makes this story truly D'D worthy is the fact that 2 health inspectors supposedly gave the pool a clean bill of health, noting only 'cloudy water' in their report. I would like to know what would need to be at the bottom of that pool for it to FAIL the inspection?- a dozen dead bodies?!

I'll definitely be looking for updates on this story!

**Dakota Valkyrie** · July 1st, 2011, 06:18 PM

The death of Marie Joseph has been ruled an accidental drowning, Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter announced Friday.

“The preliminary investigation into the death of 36-year-old Marie Joseph has determined that Ms. Joseph died on Sunday afternoon, June 26, as a result of asphyxiation by drowning,” Sutter said.
[...]

“The investigation has also determined that Ms. Joseph’s body was submerged at the bottom of the 12-foot deep end of the pool from the time of her drowning Sunday afternoon, June 26, until Tuesday evening, June 28,” Sutter said.

“The surfacing of Ms. Joseph’s body on Tuesday evening, June 28, resulted from the natural postmortem changes of the human body.”
[...]

“The investigation thus far establishes that the water in the pool was murky and cloudy from the time the pool opened for the season on Saturday, June 25th, until the pool was closed by the pool staff on Tuesday afternoon, June 28th,” Sutter said.

“Visibility tests conducted with a police diver on Wednesday, June 29, revealed that a submerged diver could not be seen at a depth of three-and-a-half to four feet below the surface of the water at the pool’s deep end.”

City officials have since noted that state law requires that public pools be closed if a disc the size of a hockey puck can not be seen from the surface when it is on the floor at the deepest portion of the pool.

http://www.heraldnews.com/breaking/x...xtremely-murky

@Momzilla - it looks like her friends looked for her but thought she had left the pool.

“I drove them down and had some errands to do,” Reis said Thursday. “I went back with lunch for everybody.

“When I got there, Marie wasn’t there. She wasn’t with the group.

“I asked. They noticed she was gone. But they had seen her talking with a group of her friends earlier. They thought she left with them,” she said.

Then, on Wednesday morning, Detectives Thomas Chace and Kelly Furtado began knocking on doors in the tenements on Reuben Street, asking everyone if they had seen their neighbor recently.

“They had questions about finding her stuff at the pool,” Reis said. “They asked when we saw her and about her tattoos.

http://www.heraldnews.com/features/x...ool-for-2-days

And this about her stuff:

Joseph, 36, of Fall River, had not been reported missing, Racine said, but friends and family had not seen her since Sunday.

Investigators began looking for her after park personnel told them they found clothing, a cell phone and a Massachusetts identification card left behind at the pool when they closed for the night on Sunday.

http://www.heraldnews.com/features/x...Pool-overnight

**walkingeagle** · July 1st, 2011, 06:26 PM

Chlorine kills anything.

Malq found the problem!

**malq** · July 1st, 2011, 06:59 PM

@Momzilla - it looks like her friends looked for her but thought she had left the pool.

What kind of friends are those?

City officials have since noted that state law requires that public pools be closed if a disc the size of a hockey puck can not be seen from the surface when it is on the floor at the deepest portion of the pool.

“They asked when we saw her and about her tattoos.

Maybe the hockey puck rule has an exclusion for people with neck tattoos

**princessgrandma** · July 1st, 2011, 07:10 PM

Well, for one thing, I wouldn't go into a public pool where they had the deep end closed off because of cloudy water. I mean, if that water was so cloudy they couldn't see a dead body in there for two or three days, I'd be freaked out as hell knowing I had been in there swimming with a dead body just a few feet away. *SHUDDER* I wouldn't go in a public pool anyway, unless it was a nice motel I was staying at and I knew it was clean, or at my gym, where I know what's in the water there.

Now, if I hear of a dead body being in a hot tub for days, I'm in trouble. That's where I spend most of my time.

I feel really bad for this lady. Nobody thought to look in the pool for her? Or was the water REALLY that bad? Yuck!

**Deja** · July 1st, 2011, 07:32 PM

Originally Posted by Dakota Valkyrie

Investigators began looking for her after park personnel told them they found clothing, a cell phone and a Massachusetts identification card left behind at the pool when they closed for the night on Sunday.

I can't believe they found her belongings, including ID, at the pool and started knocking on doors before they searched that cesspool she had been swimming in. Good God.

**Dakota Valkyrie** · July 1st, 2011, 07:39 PM

Originally Posted by Deja

I can't believe they found her belongings, including ID, at the pool and started knocking on doors before they searched that cesspool she had been swimming in. Good God.

Despite the wording, I doubt it was a "missing person" investigation at that point. The pool folks probably turned the items over to police (since the pool is city property) for them to get a hold of the owner.

People leave things in public places all the time. I've left check books, phones, cards, and even my purse behind. Usually I know right where I left it and go back and get it in a very short time, but on occasion I've had to wait until someone called to tell me I was stupid.

**Deja** · July 1st, 2011, 07:47 PM

Originally Posted by Dakota Valkyrie

Despite the wording, I doubt it was a "missing person" investigation at that point. The pool folks probably turned the items over to police (since the pool is city property) for them to get a hold of the owner.

But wasn't this after the 9 yr old told the lifeguards the woman had been hurt and hadn't surfaced? (after going down a slide with him, and don't slides always go into the deep end?) They did nothing, knowing the pool was so cloudy you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. It's awful for the poor woman and her family, but it skeeves me out to think of all the people who swam in the pool for 2 days with a corpse floating just feet away.

**Dakota Valkyrie** · July 2nd, 2011, 06:21 AM

Originally Posted by Deja

But wasn't this after the 9 yr old told the lifeguards the woman had been hurt and hadn't surfaced? (after going down a slide with him, and don't slides always go into the deep end?) They did nothing, knowing the pool was so cloudy you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. It's awful for the poor woman and her family, but it skeeves me out to think of all the people who swam in the pool for 2 days with a corpse floating just feet away.

The 9yo is reported by her friends as saying he told one lifeguard and nothing was done. That is the only info that has been released about that. So far two city inspectors have been suspended but no word on pool employees. If the 9yo is telling the truth, then why didn't he tell his parents once they and other friends started looking for her? And if he was telling the truth, I assume the lifeguard never thought of the incident again until her body was found and he/she never mentioned it to co-workers.

**Momzilla** · July 2nd, 2011, 01:29 PM

This is an interview with the 9 yr. old boy's mother. It sounds like he really couldn't get anyone to listen to him. I can't imagine how scared & helpless he must have felt. So sad.

The mother of the 9-year-old who reportedly tried to alert two lifeguards separately about the apparent drowning of Marie Joseph at a state-run pool here Sunday said in an interview yesterday that her son is despondent and keeps saying he wishes he were bigger so he could have saved the woman.“He’s sad because he saw the last moments of Marie’s life, and when he tried to do something, nobody listened,’’ said Danyelle Hunt, 30, standing in the parking lot of her apartment complex, about 2 miles from the pool.

An investigation into the death of Joseph, whose body was discovered after two days at the bottom of the Veterans Memorial Pool in Fall River, found that she drowned Sunday afternoon in water that was so murky that a police diver could not be seen at a depth of 3 1/2 feet to 4 feet, prosecutors said yesterday.

Investigators said the body of Joseph, 36, was submerged at the bottom of the 12-foot deep end of the pool from the time of her drowning Sunday afternoon until Tuesday evening, when her body surfaced as a result of “natural postmortem changes of the human body.’’

[...]

Meanwhile, Hunt said her son went to the pool Sunday with his siblings and an aunt, and that he saw Joseph, a neighbor, there. Hunt asked that her son’s name not be published.
Hunt said her son went down a slide at the pool, and as he emerged, Joseph splashed down from the slide, grazing him on the head. Joseph attempted to say sorry, but according to the boy, she couldn’t because she started sinking.

The boy said he tried to reach out to grab her, but Joseph had already slipped to the depths of the pool. The boy went to a lifeguard, who told him she was on break, Hunt said. He went to another lifeguard, who told him that they were going to do a pool check “in a minute.’’

Hunt said her son then went back to swimming with his siblings. Hunt was at work until late Sunday, she said, and when she returned home, her son was asleep. When Hunt learned of the drowning Tuesday, she told her children that they wouldn’t be able to go to the pool Wednesday, because it would be closed.
That’s when her son told her, “I think it’s Marie,’’ she said
“I asked him why would he say a thing like that, and I kind of just brushed off the comment and went to work,’’ Hunt said. “An hour later, I came home and was told that detectives wanted to talk with my baby.’’
Hunt said she will seek counseling for her son.

“He’s just really sad right now,’’ she said. “He keeps saying he wishes he was bigger. They will never ever go again to a pool around here. I will put a pool in this little cement area here; if they’re hot they can play here. Those lifeguards, that’s their job to save lives and they didn’t do that.’’
[...]

There's more info at the link:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/mas...saved_swimmer/

**Dakota Valkyrie** · August 12th, 2011, 02:59 PM

The public swimming pool in Fall River where the body of a woman lay unnoticed for more than two days will not reopen this summer.

The state Department of Conservation and Recreation, which oversees the pool, determined it was not worth reopening the pool with the limited time left this summer.
[...]

Investigators determined that the pool never should have opened in the first place, and several employees were either fired or disciplined over the death.

http://newsblog.projo.com/2011/08/fa...oman-di-1.html

**Obsolete** · August 12th, 2011, 03:19 PM

Hunt said her son then went back to swimming with his siblings. Hunt was at work until late Sunday, she said, and when she returned home, her son was asleep.

Does this boy have a learning disability?

He saw her go under and knew that the lifeguard blew him off so he just went back to playing and then went to bed like nothing happened? I'm not criticizing him, just wondering about his mentality. At his age he should have the knowledge to persist in a situation like this.

When I was in the 6th grade in Tucson Az, we had a pool party to celebrate the last day of school. One girl (Camelia) dove off the diving board and never came back up. Another classmate noticed and started yelling and screaming for help. She was pulled from the water and taken away by ambulance. Because it was the last day of school and we moved back to Oregon shortly after, I never found out if she survived or not.

My point is, why didn't he yell for help and draw attention to her?

**brokenandtwisted** · August 14th, 2011, 03:01 PM

Wowzers, now that's an impressive fuck-up we haven't seen around here before!

**malq** · August 14th, 2011, 03:04 PM

Originally Posted by Pete Bondurant

Perhaps they thought it was a rather large turd.

**Dakota Valkyrie** · August 14th, 2011, 03:10 PM

When I looked at that pic, I wondered if I would get into a public pool that was so cloudy you could barely see your feet. Doubt it.

**Kitty** · August 15th, 2011, 09:46 PM

Originally Posted by Dakota Valkyrie

When I looked at that pic, I wondered if I would get into a public pool that was so cloudy you could barely see your feet. Doubt it.

Guess she won't have to worry about pink eye... or other stuff...

**Dakota Valkyrie** · November 10th, 2011, 07:58 AM

Two state workers lost their jobs but won’t have to worry about losing their freedom in the aftermath of the drowning of Marie Joseph in a state-run pool.

District Court Clerk Magistrate John O’Neil ruled Wednesday that prosecutors did not have enough evidence to proceed to trial with the charges of reckless endangerment against Brian Shanahan and Jeff Carter, former managers with the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.

The ruling by O’Neil ends the criminal case against the two before it started.
[...]

A final report issued in October recommended charges against Shanahan and Carter of reckless endangerment of a child for allowing the pool to open on June 27 and 28 when the water was too cloudy for facility staff to see through the water to the pool floor.

Prosecutor Patrick Bomberg presented his case to O’Neil on Tuesday during a magistrate’s hearing. That hearing was also attended by Shanahan and his lawyer, Thomas Drechsler and Carter and his lawyer, Joseph Silvia. It was closed to the public.

A magistrate’s hearing is similar to a grand jury proceeding in Superior Court. The prosecution presents its case and the magistrate must determine if the evidence shows that a law has been broken and if there is probable cause to believe the person charged probably broke it.

If the magistrate finds there is probable cause to support the charge, a criminal complaint is filed and the case goes to the court for trial before a judge.

That did not happen in this case.

Now prosecutors must decide if they wish to appeal the magistrate’s decision to a District Court judge or take the matter to the Superior Court.

“I am disappointed in the decision made by the Clerk Magistrate,” Sutter said Wednesday. “We believe strongly in the evidence we compiled in these two cases and we will continue to pursue these charges.
[...]

Shanahan was the regional director for DCR and Carter was the SouthCoast district manager on June 28. Both have since resigned under pressure.

While neither was blamed for Joseph’s death, Sutter’s office found that the DCR neglected to insure that the pool was clean and the water was clear before opening it. Shanahan and Carter were the individuals directly responsible for allowing the pool to open when it did not meet state health and safety standards, Sutter’s office reported.

http://www.heraldnews.com/fall-river...ver-pool-death