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Coroner releases cause of death for father, 3 kids found in south Indianapolis pond

Kyle Moorman had "acute ethanol intoxication" when he and his three young children drowned in a pond near Bluff and Troy in July.

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis father was intoxicated when he and his three children drowned in a south Indianapolis pond, the coroner's office reported Wednesday.

Kyle Moorman's body was found in a pond near Bluff Road and Troy Avenue on July 12. A short time later, the bodies of his three children, 5-year-old Kyle Moorman II, 2-year-old Kyannah Holland and 1-year-old Kyran Holland, were found submerged in his vehicle.

On Wednesday, Sept. 7, the Marion County Coroner's Office reported the cause of death for all four victims as an accidental freshwater drowning, but also noted Kyle Moorman had "acute ethanol intoxication."

Moorman told his family he and his three children were going fishing at 11 p.m. on Wednesday, July 6, but weren't seen after that. Moorman's phone had last pinged in an area near the pond where the bodies were found on the night of July 7. 

Family members expressed outrage at police for not calling a dive team to the pond sooner.

"I know we are not getting any help from the detective on this case. He doesn't feel like it's fit for us to have cadavers and dogs out here to find my baby's scent, which I think is bull****," Moorman's mother, Natasha Hayes, said the night before the bodies were found.

IMPD searched the area around the pond with a drone and on foot in the days before Moorman and his children were found, but didn't send a dive team to the pond until July 12.

"They had one drone," the family friend said. "A drone can't see through these woods. A drone can't see down in this water."

The Indianapolis Fire Department told 13News there is certain criteria that must be met before a dive team is sent into the water.

First, they have to be requested to respond to the scene from law enforcement or the 911 system. There also has to be a credible witness present with a "last seen" point.

Dive considerations are made after those both are available.

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