Toddler Falls Into Bucket of Water, Dies

A toddler who wandered into the laundry room of her grandparents’ Santa Ana home died after she fell head-first into a bucket of water.

Santa Ana Police Lt. Jack Nelson said 13-month-old Mary Lou Bonella of Pomona wandered from the baby shower her grandparents were having Saturday for her mother, Maria Bonella, who is eight months pregnant.

Nelson said police were called at 8:40 p.m. when the child, who had been missing about 15 minutes, was found with her head under approximately six inches of water in a five-gallon bucket.

Although Officers Tony Bertagna and Oliver Grant used cardiopulmonary resuscitation to restore her breathing and heartbeat before paramedics arrived, she was pronounced dead at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana at 2:55 a.m. Sunday.

Senior Deputy Coroner Rick Plows said the child died from complications of the near-drowning that deprived her brain of oxygen. An autopsy is scheduled for today.