A 3-year-old Iowa girl vacationing in Mexico reportedly died this month after being ejected from a carnival ride and falling 30 feet to her death.
Jenessy “Sophia” Villalpando fell from a fair ride in Penjamo on July 23. According to the Des Moines Register, Villalpando was on summer vacation with her mother, grandfather, and great-grandmother and was due to come home a few days before her death.
While reports in Mexico indicated that Villalpando fell while seated on someone’s lap, the toddler’s aunt, Marlene Cuauhtenango, told The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier in an email that she was seated next to her mother when “she was ejected/slipped from her seat.”
A GoFundMe set up for the late toddler indicated that someone tried to catch her as she plunged to the ground. The Daily Mail reported that Villalpando was 30 feet in the air when she dropped to her death. The GoFundMe stated that the 3-year-old suffered head trauma and brain swelling and was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The Register reported that Villalpando will be laid to rest Tuesday in Waterloo, Iowa.
“Our family is in complete shock, confused, and heartbroken. Sophia was so full of life, she was the family sunshine, the one who could make us all forget about our problems with her cheerful personality,” the fundraiser description read.
“All we want is to bring our little Angel home.”
[Feature Image: Jenessy “Sophia” Villalpando/Handout]