A little girl named Aliyah Jaico has recently lost her life after being sucked into a malfunctioning pool pipe that was supposed to be pushing water out but instead, it violently sucked an eight-year-old girl. Aliyah disappeared while she was swimming with her family at the DoubleTree by Hilton Houston Brookhollow Hotel, Texas on March 23, 2024. The hotel is located in the northwest part of the city.
Aliyah was swimming with her family in a pool that had a slow-moving river at the hotel. Suddenly, she got stuck in a big pipe that connected to the pool. People noticed she was missing at about 5:45 p.m. on March 23, 2024. Upon arrival, the search and recovery organization Equusearch was dumbfounded by the girl’s disappearance. The Houston Fire Department subsequently inspected multiple pipes in the pool but found nothing. The search team initially believed that she might have been kidnapped from the hotel.
“Did she wander off? Did somebody take her or what? So anyhow, we mobilized a lot of people,” said Tim Miller, the founder of Texas EquuSearch, which was called in to help try to find the child. “We had people actually searching outside and in different rooms and everything.”
According to a released statement, Aliyah was found dead in water at a place on 12801 Northwest Freeway on Saturday night, around 11:30 p.m. According to detectives from the HPD Homicide Division, the girl was swimming in a pool designed like a lazy river with her family at the hotel in that location. When the child was reported missing at around 5:45 p.m., the police were called. Later, she was discovered inside a big pipe in the pool area. Paramedics found her there and pronounced her dead.
Officers on the scene then entered the hotel to review camera footage, which revealed the girl submerging under the water but never resurfacing. Following this discovery, they drained the pool and used a small camera on a pole to look inside the pipes, with help from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. They also had a dog trained to follow scents. At around 11:30 pm, they found the girl, 20 feet down a pipe in the pool.
The girl’s small hand and part of her body were stuck inside a pipe, explained Miller. This pipe had a problem—it was supposed to pump water out, but instead, it was pulling water in. “The girl’s ‘little hand and part of her body’ were the first to appear, having been ‘wedged’ deep inside the pipe,” Miller said.
The Houston Fire Department came to help and rescued Aliyah’s body from the pipe. It was a tough job that took about 13 hours of hard work.
Shortly after this incident, Aliyah’s mother shared some baby photos of her daughter on Facebook, captioning it ‘our last photo.’. In her heartfelt message, she expressed her deep emotions, longing to see her daughter again someday. She reminisced about Aliyah’s infectious smile that brought joy to everyone around her.
Mother writes, “They say we all have our destiny marked… but I can’t understand why yours was like this.. Thank you my love for the 8 years you gave me by your side. Thank you my girl for teaching me what love is and a noble heart.. I still don’t accept that you won’t be here anymore, I don’t have to pretend. I hope to see you again one day and you’ll keep looking at me and you’ll get that big smile that was contagious with joy. You gave yourself to love always with your heart so noble. I will love you for all eternity. You are the most beautiful thing God has given me and after every battle we went through together we didn’t win this one. Rest in peace my beautiful Wera. Forever you. “
Her mother also reflected on Aliyah’s loving nature, describing her as someone who always gave her heart freely. Despite facing numerous challenges together, this time, they couldn’t overcome the situation. The message on Facebook was filled with love and sorrow, expressing the deep bond between mother and daughter and the pain of losing Aliyah.
Aliyah Jaico’s family has hired a lawyer named Richard Nava. They believe that Aliyah’s death was caused by someone else’s actions, so they are taking legal action. This legal action is called a wrongful death lawsuit. It means they’re suing because they think Aliyah’s death was someone else’s fault. The lawsuit claims Aliyah was forcefully sucked into the unsecured 12 to 16-inch pipe and found wedged in the “malfunctioning pool equipment.”
The people they are suing are the companies that own and manage the hotel where Aliyah was staying. The hotel is called DoubleTree by Hilton Houston Brookhollow. The companies they are suing are Unique Crown Hospitality LLC, which operates the hotel, and Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., which is the larger company that owns the Hilton brand.
According to the lawsuit, when Aliyah’s family asked the hotel to check their security cameras to help find Aliyah, the hotel refused to do so unless the police were present. Aliyah’s family became worried when they couldn’t find her and called the police for help. The police then started searching for Aliyah and watched the security camera footage from the hotel.
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At first, the police thought that Aliyah might have been kidnapped from the hotel. However, after watching the security footage, they discovered something different. The footage showed that Aliyah had gone into the hotel’s swimming pool but had not come out. This was a shocking discovery.
The lawsuit claims that Aliyah’s death could have been prevented if the hotel had properly maintained the pool. It alleges that the pool equipment was not working correctly, which led to Aliyah’s death. According to the lawsuit, Aliyah’s body was found stuck in the pool’s equipment, which suggests that there was a problem with the pool that the hotel should have fixed.
Angelina Farris, who is the Deputy Director of Texas EquuSearch, was involved in the search for Aliyah Jaico. She provided insights into the search efforts. Initially, there was concern that Aliyah might have been abducted from the hotel premises, leading the search efforts in that direction. However, upon reviewing the surveillance footage, it was discovered that Aliyah had entered the hotel’s swimming pool and did not resurface.
Farris described the shocking revelation upon realizing that Aliyah had gone underwater. She also mentioned the intensive search conducted by law enforcement officers and volunteers to locate Aliyah. Additionally, Farris mentioned the innovative methods used during the search, such as attaching video cameras to poles to inspect the pool’s equipment.
Rescuers had to work hard to retrieve Aliyah’s body from the pool. They had to break through the pool’s tiles and dirt to get to her. It took them more than 12 hours to find her.
According to Houston Public Media, Houston Health Department inspectors in an aquatic facility inspection report Monday noted undocumented 32-inch channel drains on the walls of the pool, pool ladders with no tread and a gate and two doors that opened into the pool area, violations that must be fixed before a reinspection on April 22.
On Monday, the pool was inspected and they found new pipes were not working right. They were supposed to push water out, but they were pulling water in. Also, ABC 13 Investigates found the Houston Health Department’s reports from Monday’s inspection, which identified multiple violations. (Source)
“Main drain document was provided and still valid. However small pool has 32-inch channel drains on the walls, without a valid document stating their function, date of installation and date of expiration. A full inspection was conducted, multiple violations were observed. Video footage is available, however manager stated that the footage is being reviewed by legal, and we would have to wait to receive a copy,” part of Monday’s report read.
Aliyah’s family is seeking compensation for their loss. They want the hotel to pay them more than $1 million in damages. They also want a jury to decide whether the hotel is responsible for Aliyah’s death. According to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science, the Aliyah’s preliminary cause of death was ‘drowning and mechanical asphyxia’ and appeared to be an accident.
The hotel has responded to the lawsuit by expressing their condolences to Aliyah’s family. However, they have also stated that they do not own or control the hotel where Aliyah died. They only provide the Hilton brand name to the hotel.
