8-Year-Old Girl Dies After Being Sucked Into Swimming Pool Pipe At Houston Hotel; Management Company Blames Parents

On March 23, Aliyah Lynette Jaico, 8, and her family had been swimming at a pool at a Double Tree by Hilton Hotel in Houston, Texas. That’s when the girl went missing.

Now, the hotel management company has stated that the child’s parents are at fault. This was after it was found that the girl was sucked into a pool pipe and drowned.

Authorities say that the child and other relatives were swimming in a lazy river-style swimming pool before the child disappeared.

Almost 6 hours later, the child’s body was discovered in the large pipe in the pool area. She was then declared deceased.

On March 25, Jaico’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the hotel and its affiliates. The suit cites gross negligence, and they are seeking more than $1 million in damages.

The family says that after looking for the child for over 30 minutes, they requested that hotel workers review surveillance footage. However, they refused to do until authorities had arrived. However, police did not get to the scene until almost an hour after the child had gone missing.

Relatives say that the child died because the pool wasn’t functioning correctly.

The family’s lawyer said that the 8-year-old may have been trying to save her 5-year-old sister from being sucked into the pipe. The younger child had been taken out the pool by an older cousin, but Jaico had disappeared by then.

“Her poor little body was contorted when she was sucked into this hole and pipe, 20 feet back. Her body was inside the motor when she had to be extracted. They had to break up concrete in order to extract her, cut pipe. It was absolutely horrific,” the lawyer added.

A lawsuit notes that Northwest Hospitality Management, LLC has claimed that the parents are to blame for the child’s death because they weren’t watching her.

The case will go to trial on August 11.