Alabama Toddler Drowns In Grease Pit At Ice Cream Shop

AUBURN, AL — An Alabama family’s outing to an ice cream shop ended tragically Saturday when a 3-year-old girl fell into a grease trap and drowned, according to multiple media reports. The toddler was playing with her siblings outside Bruster’s Real Ice Cream shop. The toddler, described by her family as a “little blonde bundle of joy” with an “infectious smile,” was playing outside the ice cream shop when she stepped on the unsecured lid of the 6-foot-deep in-ground container and drowned in the sludge, investigators said.

As Sadie Grace Andrews and her siblings played, their father, Tracy Andrews, turned his head away for them for just a moment, investigators said. When he looked again, Sadie was gone. The lid of the grease trap had closed shut as quickly as it had opened, trapping her inside, according to video evidence collected at the scene. Sadie was found about 10 minutes later inside the grease trap, and efforts to revive her were unsuccessful. She was pronounced dead at an East Alabama Medical Center in Opelika.

Investigators have ruled the little girl’s death an accident, and the ice cream chain’s owners have instructed franchise-holders to inspect their grease traps to prevent a similar tragedy. (Find your local Alabama Patch here and sign up for real-time news alerts and free morning newsletters. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Sadie loved Jesus, people, Elvis and the Crimson Tide, her mother, Corrie Andrews, told al.com. “We know without a shadow of a doubt our baby girl is with Jesus,” she said.

“Her name means ‘God’s thoughtful princess,’” Corrie Andrews said. “And she really was that — always expressing gratefulness and love for God and other people. She would light up a room with her smile; she walked with a skip in her step. I’ve never met a more joyful child who loved God with all her heart.”

“I’m just so thankful for the three years we had with her,” Tracy Andrews told the newspaper. “She taught me about being happy and loving life and loving people. At 3 years old, there’s no preconceived notions. To her, everybody was good. She didn’t see the bad. She just loved people and it didn’t matter what they did.”

Veteran investigators were shaken by the tragedy. Lee County Coroner Bill Harris told CNN that in three decades as a forensics examiner, “I have never seen anything like this before.”

“Please keep this family in your prayers as they suffer through this tragedy,” Harris told the Opelika-Auburn News.

Lance and Kara Latham, the owners of the Bruster’s ice cream store in Auburn, said on Facebook they are “heartbroken that this has happened.”

In 28 years of operation, nothing like this has ever happened, Bruster’s Real Ice Cream CEO Jim Sahene wrote in a statement.

“On behalf of the entire Bruster’s Real Ice family, our sincerest sympathies go to the Andrews family, their friends and all of those touched by this horrible accident,” Sahene wrote. “We cannot imagine the grief the family is going through. When the time is right, we will reach out to the family to personally offer our condolences and assistance. Our thoughts and prayers are also with the owners of the Auburn shop and their employees. …

“As a father and grandfather myself, I cannot image the grief the family is going through,” Sahene continued. “We can only hope that they find some comfort in the outpouring of support we have seen since this tragedy happened.”

Chad Vermillion, Sadie’s uncle, established a YouCaring crowdfunding account to help the family with funeral expenses. “With a very heavy heart I want to tell you that my most precious niece Sadie Grace unexpectedly went to be with Jesus today,” he wrote.

The $10,00 goal had been exceeded by Monday night and stood at $14,570

Sadie has five siblings — Sabrina, 7; Piper, 6; Cason, 4; and twins Ryder and Judson, who will turn 2 next month.

Photo via Shutterstock