6-Month-Old Survives In Freezing Pond After 'Stressed' Father Tried Drowning Her

A six-month-old baby girl was found alive floating in a freezing pond in northwestern Missouri after her father allegedly confessed to police that he tried to drown her. Jonathon Zicarelli, 28, admitted to officers on Monday that he wanted to kill his baby as he was "stressed" by the holidays and trying to provide for his family, the Kansas City Star reported.

After learning about the incident, two officers were immediately dispatched to the pond and found the girl floating face-up in the frigid water, Chief Greg Hallgrimson said, adding that she looked like a "porcelain doll." The baby was removed from the pond and CPR was performed to bring her breathing normally after the shocking incident.

The officers warmed the baby and she was taken to a hospital where she received treatment for severe hypothermia. The baby girl is reportedly in good condition.

Police believe the infant was underwater for some five to seven minutes and said there was grass in her mouth, mud in her eyes and water in her lungs. Officers also said that it was a "miracle" that the girl survived the incident.

The father has been charged with domestic assault and prosecutors requested his bail be set at $500,000.

Investigators reportedly said that Zicarelli came up with the plan to kill his daughter 24 hours earlier. He went to the pond three times determine if the baby could drown in the waters. He told investigators that after putting the baby in the water he watched her sink before leaving the scene.

Zicarelli claimed he tried to kill his daughter because he was having “bad thoughts” and wanted to make it easier on his wife by getting rid of the child, FOX4KC reported.

Greenwood Police Lt Aaron Fordham said there "was no emotion whatsoever" in the father's confession, according to the Daily Mail.

While its a miracle the baby survived so much time inside water under extreme circumstances, the latest is not an isolated incident. In November, an 18-month-old boy was rescued by a New Zealand fisherman from the ocean, in an incident described as a "freakish miracle."

The boy had escaped from his parents' tent and ended up in the ocean.

"I thought he was a doll. [Even as] I reached out and grabbed him by the arm, I still thought it was a doll," Gus Hutt, a holiday camper staying on Matata Beach on North Island, who saved the baby told local outlet the Whakatane Beacon.

"His face looked just like porcelain with his short hair wetted down, but then he let out a little squeak and I thought, 'oh God, this is a baby and it's alive'."