California relative charged in Ohio girl’s drowning death

COLUMBUS (AP) — Authorities say criminal charges have been filed in the death of a 7-year-old Columbus girl who drowned while visiting her grandparents in California.

The Columbus Dispatch reports the body of Annielee Sweet Pea Palmer was recovered Thursday from the Coachella Canal in Riverside County, Calif. The canal diverts water from the Colorado River to desert communities near the Mexican border.

The Imperial County sheriff’s office said Palmer went missing Tuesday, about 10 miles upstream in Niland. She was either swimming or fell into the canal. An aunt said someone tried to rescue her as she clung to a buoy, but the girl slipped off and disappeared.

Palmer’s step-grandfather, 56-year-old Heinrich Paul Boykins, has been charged with manslaughter and child neglect.

The canal is posted as a dangerous, no-swimming area.