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'It's just so gut-wrenching' | Neighbors crushed after 2-year-old girl's body found in south Indianapolis retention pond

Police had been searching for 2-year-old Anna Fabor Mandanda, who was last seen Saturday afternoon.

INDIANAPOLIS — The Marion County coroner has ruled a 2-year-old girl who was missing for several hours over the weekend drowned in a retention pond across the street from her house.

The body of Anna Mundanda was discovered around midnight Sunday in a retention pond in the Governors Pointe neighborhood on the south side of Indianapolis.

A little more than 24 hours after search crews found the girl, neighbors continued to drive by the pond throughout the day Monday, passing a small memorial to the toddler on the pond's bank.

"This is a tragedy for us. This is something that you would never think could happen in your community," said Ben Fox, who was walking his dog in the neighborhood Monday morning.

Credit: Rich Nye/WTHR
Neighbors in the 6900 block of Governors Pointe Blvd place a memorial near where a child's body was recovered after they were found in a pond.

Fox helped search for Mundanda, who police say disappeared from her home around 3 p.m. Saturday.

"We had whole search parties out here with flashlights and everybody going through the easements and everybody going through anywhere that we could find somebody could be hiding somewhere," Fox recalled.

At 11 p.m., a diver searched in the pond, while others in the water searched closer to the bank, using poles to probe the bottom.

Just after midnight, they found the toddler's body in the water.

Credit: IMPD
Anna Fabor Mandanda, 2, of Indianapolis.

"I myself have a 2-year-old daughter and, for me, it's like, so crushing, and I just couldn't imagine what they're going through right now," Fox said.

According to IMPD, police and the Indiana Department of Child Services are still investigating, interviewing friends and family to learn the circumstances leading up to the girl's disappearance from her home.

"It's just so gut-wrenching, and we can't possibly imagine what they're going through right now, but we're just here to help," Fox said.

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