A Paradise Township woman charged with endangering two young children by leaving them unsupervised as they played on her property, resulting in one of them fatally drowning in a nearby pond, will have her case proceed to county court after waiving her preliminary hearing last month.

Anna M. King, 40, waived her preliminary hearing before Judge Raymond Sheller on Dec. 3 on two counts of endangering the welfare of children.

King is accused of leaving the victims unsupervised as they played in and around a pond at her farm in the 1500 block of Mine Road the morning of Oct. 23. One of the victims, a 2-year-old boy, subsequently drowned and died.

Though Pennsylvania State Police and EMS attempted to revive the boy and transported him to two different medical facilities he ultimately died.

When speaking to police King said the children had been playing together for most of the morning, but she lost track of them for about 30 minutes. When she next saw the 4-year-old boy he was alone, King said.

That’s when King saw the 2-year-old floating in the pond, she told police.

An eyewitness told police she had seen King leaf blowing along her driveway as the second victim, a 4-year-old boy, played outside sometime between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. Minutes later, King barged into her home and panickily told her to call 911 because the younger child had drowned.

After the eyewitness called 911 she saw King pulling the 2-year-old victim, who appeared lifeless and limp, out of the water.

The 4-year-old told investigators he and the other boy had crawled under a fence in order to access the pond. The boy then left the pond to retrieve his two dogs he observed near his neighbor’s house, he said.

King is currently free after having been released on her own recognizance.

Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Edward Zema filed the charges.

Assistant District Attorney Fritz Haverstick will prosecute the case.

All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.