Family, South Charleston community grieving death of 8-year-old boy

An 8-year-old South Charleston boy died last week in a possible bathtub drowning.

A visitation for Grady Neff, a student at Miami View Elementary School, will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, at the Clark County Fairgrounds Mercantile Annex Building.

“Everybody that knew Grady loved him,” the family said in a statement. “He was always the biggest personality in the room with a smile, or a wave or a hug.”

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The Clark County Sheriff’s Office has ruled out anything criminal, Lt. Kristopher Shultz said, but are continuing their investigation to see what might have caused the possible drowning.

“Anytime you have a child that is involved in a situation, it’s sad,” he said. “Anytime we have a situation with a child involved in any kind of incident, accident, whatever it may be it, is always heartbreaking for us and the public.”

Grady had a seizure and his death is a tragedy, the family’s statement says.

Clark County Sheriff’s Office records show calls were made to the Madison County Sheriff’s Office about 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 11. A woman, screaming, told dispatchers that a child had drowned in the bathtub.

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Grady was taken to a Columbus hospital, Franklin County Coroner Dr. Anahia Ortiz said. She couldn’t release any more information and said an autopsy could take 10 weeks to complete.

“Our heart goes out to the family,” Shultz said. “South Charleston is a very tight community so our heart goes out to them with that because they are are a very tight-knit group of people. It’s a tragic situation.”

Southeastern Superintendent David Shea said Neff was an outstanding student and the students and staff at the school are mourning his loss.

“He was a great, great kid that we all loved,” Shea said.

The school has counselors available this week and some students have used them, he said.

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