Published: May 28, 2025
Harper, Maryland County — A 49-year-old pastor, identified as Rev. Lemeo G. Ivy, was arrested Saturday, May 24, in connection with the death of a two-year-old child who allegedly drowned in an abandoned septic tank pit in the New Harper Community, Jacksonville Township.
According to a police charge sheet issued the same day, the Maryland County Crime Statistics Division launched an investigation into a suspected negligent homicide case after receiving a call that a child had drowned and was taken to the James Jenkins Dossen Referral Hospital in Harper.
The document states that the call came from Chief Inspector Daniel Nyemah, who was contacted by residents of New Harper Community reporting the incident. Responding to the scene, Police Superintendent Frederic T. Smith Jr. confirmed the report and identified the victim as Erasmus Doe, age 2.
Security officials said Rev. Ivy admitted that the pit—left uncovered—was intended to serve as a septic tank. The child reportedly fell into the open hole early Saturday morning.
According to police, the toddler’s 41-year-old grandmother, Beatrice Toe, told investigators she was unwell and in bed when the incident occurred. She said the child had come out with his mother, Lucy Hne, to take a bath. While Lucy prepared the bathwater, Erasmus wandered off to play with friends in the living room.
Moments later, when the child was called for his bath, he was nowhere to be found. A search of the premises led to the discovery of the toddler’s slippers floating in the pit. The child’s body was pulled from the hole and rushed to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival by the officer-in-charge.
Rev. Ivy, a resident of Pleebo Mission Town Zone #1 and a member of the Grebo ethnic group, was charged with negligent homicide and is awaiting trial, which is scheduled for Monday, May 26.
The tragic death marks the second reported case in Maryland County this month involving children drowning in abandoned pits.
On May 7, residents of Pleebo City’s Zone-4 Community discovered the lifeless body of another two-year-old, Theo Elliott, after a search that drew dozens of residents. That pit, also intended as a septic tank for a local school, had been left open for months due to lack of funding.
Rev. Sylvester Chea, principal of the school involved in the earlier case, told reporters the pit had been dug in August 2024 for sanitation purposes but construction was halted due to financial constraints. While students had been warned to stay away from the area, Chea admitted that the broader community was not formally notified of the hazard.
Both incidents have raised renewed concerns about public safety and the dangers posed by neglected construction projects in residential areas.
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