Boy's Body Found in Patuxent
Dad had taken child's lifejacket off him when placing him on
his cigarette boat, turned his back, kid went over the side

Huntingtown --- Maryland Natural Resources Police report that a citizen on a jet ski who was assisting in efforts to find a missing child's, body found the body in the Patuxent River.

NRP spokeswoman Heather Lynch said on Sunday that the child's body was found about 11 am.

At about 7 pm Saturday night, a full scale water rescue response was mounted to find a 3-year-old child who reportedly disappeared from a 38' cigarette boat tied up to a pier on the Patuxent River near Huntingtown.   

Police say that the dead child was Willam W. Donaldson, 3, of Dunkirk. 

"His father had put him on his cigarette boat after being handed the child from another person on the pier," said Lynch. "The father took the lifejacket off the boy and went into the cabin of the boat to turn on a tv. When he came back into the cockpit, the boy was gone."

The father of the boy was identified as Darryll Donaldson, of Dunkirk.

Police say that alcohol was not a factor and that the investigation into the death was continuing.

Children near the waterfront and on boats should be in the constant custody of adults and be wearing a life jacket the entire time they are on a boat. 

Calvert County Sheriff Mike Evans told ST. MARY'S TODAY that ten Calvert Deputies were on the scene on Saturday night.

"We had K-9 officers there to search the area and the Calvert County Dive Team were there, it appears the child just was gone for a minute," said Sheriff Evans.

"It was reported that the child was last seen near a boat and down by the shore, so we wanted to be sure that he had not just wandered off so a thourgh search was performed," said Sheriff Evans.  "The DNR police are taking over from here."

A child who is underwater for a brief period of time can be brought back to life under some circumstances, usually involving cold water.

A child missing overnight is presumed drowned but not officially ruled dead until found. 

Assisting in the effort to find the boy overnight were: the Prince George's County underwater rescue team; the Maryland State Police; the Dunkirk Volunteer Fire Department; the Huntingtown Volunteer Fire and Resque Squad; the DC Search and Rescue Dogs, the American Rescue Dogs team and the Benedict Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad.