Missing Montana Boy, 3, Found Dead in Septic Tank

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The body of 3-year-old Loic Rogers, who disappeared outside a home in Kalispell, Montana, was found in a septic tank late on Friday evening. The septic tank is less than 10 feet from where he was last seen alive, said Flathead County Sheriff Mike Meehan. An autopsy performed in Missoula showed that Loic drowned.

The blond-haired, blue-eyed boy was reported missing Wednesday night, and an Amber Alert was issued the next day. The boy's father, Mark Rogers, told police he took Loic out to his car outside a friend's home and told the boy to get in, and went back into the house to get his sister.

Mark Rogers "said he was inside only for a minute", Meehan said. When Mr. Rogers came back outside with his daughter, the boy was gone. Mr. Rogers said he searched for about 20 minutes before calling the police. Authorities said they had looked in the septic tank during their initial search, but did not see anything. They found the boy's body after draining the tank.

The manhole-sized lid to the septic tank was closed. Sherrif Meehan declined to characterize the boy's death as a murder, but said investigators do not believe he could have climbed into the tank on his own and then put the lid back on.