A Jacksonville toddler became the 44th child to drown this year in Florida, according to the Department of Children and Families.
The Sheriff’s Office incident report states officers were called to the scene at about 1:30 p.m. Monday, June 9. It lists the child as 1-year-old Malcolm Futch but does not provide many other details. The parents and two other young children live at the home in the 1300 block of Elmar Road not far from New Berlin Road.
News4Jax talked with a neighbor involved in the search when the boy went missing. She said he was found in another neighbor’s pool. She said those neighbors were out of town. It’s unclear how the child was able to get to the pool.
The Florida Department of Children and Families’ Child Fatality Prevention dashboard lists 43 drownings so far this year with Malcolm being the 44th and the second in Duval County. The other was a 5-year-old boy on March 15 in the 1500 block of Carbondale Drive near the Trout River and Lem Turner Road. The Children and Families data says the boy was playing outside with an older sibling when he was found unresponsive in a pool.
The child protection agency states that 119 children drowned in Florida in 2025 and nearly 80% were younger than 3 years old. Here are some of the safety measures recommended:
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Toddler is second Jacksonville child to drown in a pool in 3 months
Reporting by Scott Butler, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Scott Butler, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union | USA TODAY Network
