Who dug the Florida sinkhole that killed a 7-year-old girl?

What at first seemed like a tragic accident leaving one 7-year-old Sloan Mattingly dead in a Florida sinkhole in the sand became a mystery when one local resident reported that, shortly before the sad incident, he saw a man digging an enormous hole on the beach near where the girl died.

Sloan and Maddox Mattingly, ages 7 and 9, from Indiana, were vacationing with their families in Lauderdale-By-The Sea, Florida, when the hole the children dug in the beach suddenly collapsed around them. Maddox was trapped in the hole up to his chest, but he was able to breathe. He was rescued but listed in critical condition, WFLA.com reported.

Sloan, however, was underneath her brother and completely submerged in the hole, and as rescuers tried to dig her out, more sand covered her. Sloan was reached after more than 20 minutes, and both children were transported to a local hospital, where Sloan was pronounced dead.

Sand sinkholes happen naturally

Speaking with Fox13News.com, Florida engineer Henri Jean said holes dug too deeply in the sand are dangerous and can collapse on their own. For every foot dug into the sand, Jean said, there’s about 110 pounds of pressure from the sand should it collapse, so at 5 feet, there would be around 550 pounds of pressure on anyone trapped at the bottom, not to mention the asphyxiation risk. For this reason, when digging in the sand, ” … Never dig anything deep enough to get your head in it,” Jean said.

Someone saw a man digging the hole before the accident

But the hole that killed Sloan Mattingly and injured in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea Beach near Tampa was quite large. After the tragic incident, one Lauderdale-by-the-Sea resident, Harry Defina, said he saw a man digging a giant hole in the sand about a half-hour before the children were trapped, CBS News reported. “I’m upset. No way did they dig that hole. It was massive,” Defina said.

Defina added,

“I was walking by the beach and I saw a man, 40-ish years old, thin, medium height. He was digging a really big hole, like 5-by-5 and up to his chest. I looked at him and he looked back and I walked away, I didn’t think to go over and tell him not to do it. I’m even upset that someone would imply that those kids dug that hole. They didn’t dig that hole. It was massive and it ended up like 18-feet-by-6-feet.”

via NBC Miami

It’s not illegal to dig large holes in the sand on many beaches, although it’s considered a safety violation in most areas, and when noticed, a lifeguard could tell a beach visitor to fill it in. Should the man who allegedly dug the hole that injured and killed the Mattingly children be identified, it’s unclear whether he could be charged with any crime.

After Sloan died, friends of Jason and Therese Mattingly established a GoFundMe page to help cover her funeral costs. “We experienced the purest human being, and we are forever changed by her,” one comment read.