Suffolk News-Herald

The drowning death of a 4-year-old Suffolk child was ruled accidental by North Carolina District Attorney Sam Currin.

Currin said that Warren County Sheriff Johnny Williams’ investigation into the death of Will Ewers found no evidence of foul play or negligence on the part of adults watching the child.

Ewers had been missing since 11:30 a.m. Sunday, when he wandered off while helping rake leaves with a friend of his grandmother, Patsy Parnell. The temperature was an unseasonable 75 degrees and the child had begged to go swimming in Lake Gaston where he was visiting his grandmother.

Authorities were called in around 12:30 p.m. Sunday, and they spent the afternoon searching homes and nearby woods for about seven hours before finding the child’s body in approximately 10 feet of frigid water, around 25 feet from the shoreline directly behind his grandmother’s home.

Ewers was the son of Jamie and Shannon Ewers of Deerpath Road.