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CNN Live Today

Murky Pool May Have Delayed Discovery of Boy

Aired June 05, 2002 - 14:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: A final autopsy report was supposed to come out about a 7-year-old boy, Paolo Ayala, who disappeared after a pool party and whose body was found in a pool in West Los Angeles. Police still haven't determined whether it's a homicide or an accidental drowning.

But CNN's Frank Buckley standing by in the neighborhood with more on this story.

Frank, any results yet from the coroners?

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, we're still waiting for a final determination from the coroner's office, but we are going to be able to, for the first time now, look in this pool that is at the center of this.

This little boy came to pool party here at this home on Sunday afternoon. It was a drop-off kind of a party, a frequent sort of thing here in Los Angeles. You drop your kids at a party, in this case a pool party, many people around the pool. And it's not clear yet if the child died in the pool or if, as police believed originally, the child was placed in the pool. That's one of the things that the coroner's office is hoping to find.

It seems almost unbelievable, given what the pool looks like, and joining me is Sayid Farcon Dapor (ph). Sayid (ph) is the owner of the pool here. And Sayid -- as Greg goes in -- Greg, go ahead and show the pool.

Sayid, we're looking at the pool right now. It is so clear. You can see right down to the bottom. The police are saying it's possible that this child was in this pool since Sunday.

For those of us who are looking at the pool right now, it seems so hard to believe, but you're saying that the water was murky at the time?

SAYID FARCON DAPOR, POOL OWNER: That's right. Yes. Looking at the water right now and remembering what it looked like the day of the party. We all should have known that we couldn't see the bottom of the pool. It was very murky. Yes.

BUCKLEY: You were, in fact, telling me earlier that one of your children kept sort of pestering you that day. DAPOR: Actually, there was two of them, as I was walking along the pool in this direction, with the police officer that first arrived here, two of my kids kept saying, dad, you cannot see the bottom of the pool. And I pretty much, like, ignored them.

I was under the impression that if there was anything in the water, you would be able to see it, even though the water is murky.

So, as it turns out, I don't think that was the case.

BUCKLEY: I know you don't want to say exactly where the body was found. But as we look in the pool right now, it appears as though it's about -- is it 8 feet deep at the deepest point?

DAPOR: I would be guesstimating. I think the deepest part would be about 8 or 9 feet, yes.

BUCKLEY: And, again, what we are seeing now -- it just seems so difficult to believe, but you're saying that with all the people in the pool, that things were kicked up, the plaster and all of that.

DAPOR: Well, that's what I was told. I don't know about that.

I was told by the detective, that's what the pool man and some expert they talked to -- they say that that does happen, that the plastic comes off and makes the water murky.

BUCKLEY: People are -- may begin to assign blame to different people. Well, the homeowner should have done this, or the police should have done that.

Do you think that anyone is to blame here? Are you upset that the police didn't go in to the pool to check, when this first took place?

DAPOR: Well, personally, the way I look at it, this was a major tragedy. There was apparently nothing anybody could have done, looking back, and by the time even when my kids were saying that you cannot see the bottom, by that time the boy was missing about at least an hour, an hour-and-a-half, so it was too late by that point anyways.

BUCKLEY: Sayid (ph), thank you very much for finally letting us see the pool itself. It's clearer now -- what police are talking about when they say that it's possible that you couldn't have seen the body at the bottom of the pool. Yes, it's very clear now. But at the time of the party, and all day Monday, while this massive search was taking place in this area, when this home was being used as the command post, Sayid (ph) is saying that, yes, it's possible that you couldn't actually see the bottom of the pool.

One more thing.

DAPOR: I would also like to mention that, like I told you earlier, there was about a total of 200 policemen, firefighters, detectives that all walked by this pool. So they all missed it. BUCKLEY: Yes. It is a baffling story. That's exactly what the L.A.P.D. is saying, and now we're simply awaiting the coroner's results -- Carol.

LIN: Wow, that is a really strange story, Frank. Something is just not adding up. Two days of searching for this boy and he ends up there on Tuesday.

All right, thank you very much. Frank Buckley reporting live from west Los Angeles.

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