A two-year-old girl, who had gone missing, was found dead in an open well next to her daycare center.

The tragic discovery unfolded at Watch Me Grow Day Care in Cobourg, Ontario last Thursday, May 25, when the child’s mother, Claire, came to pick her up. The daycare staff only noticed the toddler’s absence upon Claire’s arrival.

Vienna Rose Irwin, the missing toddler, was located in the nearby well approximately an hour after an intensive search was launched.

Bystanders detailed the harrowing scene as daycare employees and police tried to locate the child. 

The Ontario Provincial Police confirmed that a child was reported missing from an address in Hamilton Township and was subsequently found deceased. The investigation into the heartbreaking incident is actively underway, with both police and Ontario’s chief coroner meticulously examining the circumstances leading to Vienna’s death. Daycare staff are fully collaborating with the authorities.

Watch Me Grow Day Care, where the tragedy occurred, has no previous record of major incidents and holds full licensure, as confirmed by the Ministry of Education.

A GoFundMe campaign set up following the incident has raised in excess of $120,000.