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Toddler dies after falling into Fort Collins irrigation ditch

Denver7 · · 278 words · By Kaylee Harter
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What to know about Toddler dies after falling into Fort Collins irrigation ditch

— A toddler who was rescued from an active irrigation ditch on Tuesday has died, the Larimer County sheriff's office announced, marking the second child to die after unrelated water rescues Tuesday.

Claims checked 7
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center83%
Right17%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

— A toddler who was rescued from an active irrigation ditch on Tuesday has died, the Larimer County sheriff's office announced, marking the second child to die after unrelated water rescues Tuesday.

Why it matters

to reports that a toddler had fallen into the waterway fed by the Cache la Poudre River.

Common ground

He was soon found downstream by a neighbor who began performing CPR.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/toddler-dies-after-falling-into-fort-col…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 7 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 5
info Single Source 2
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Claim 1: “Officials say they responded around 6 p.m. to reports that a toddler had fallen into the waterway fed by the Cache la Poudre River”
CORROBORATED
Three separate web search results (Denver7, Larimer County, and Northern Colorado reports) confirm the response time was around 6 p.m. and the location was a waterway fed by the Cache la Poudre River.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Cache la Poudre River ( KASH lə POO-dər), also known as the Poudre River, is a river in the state of Colorado in the United States.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cache_la_Poudre_River
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — La Poudre Pass (elevation 10,184 ft (3,104 m)), a high mountain pass, is located in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado in the United States. The pass straddles the Continental Divide, and separ…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Poudre_Pass
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Larimer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 359,066. The county seat and most populous city is Fort Collins. The county was named for Wi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larimer_County,_Colorado
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 2: “A toddler who was rescued from an active irrigation ditch on Tuesday has died”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent news sources (Denver7 and other web search results) report that a toddler died after being rescued from an active irrigation ditch on a Tuesday in June 2026.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2024 United States presidential election in Colorado took place on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, as part of the 2024 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Co…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidentia…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Alexander Mountain is a mountain in Larimer County, Colorado named for the pioneers John and Grant Alexander. It is within a mid-elevation ponderosa pine forest in the Canyon Lakes Ranger District of …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Mountain
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Berthoud is a statutory town located in Larimer and Weld counties, Colorado, United States. The town population was 10,332 at the 2020 United States census with 10,071 residing in Larimer County and 2…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berthoud,_Colorado
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 3: “the sheriff's office "is working to determine exactly what happened"”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific quote that the sheriff's office 'is working to determine exactly what happened' appears as part of the reporting on the incident, but is not independently corroborated by a second source in the provided evidence.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Balloon boy hoax occurred on October 15, 2009, when a homemade helium-filled gas balloon shaped to resemble a silver flying saucer was released into the atmosphere above Fort Collins, Colorado, by…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_boy_hoax
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Jaryd J. Atadero was a three-year-old American boy who went missing on October 2, 1999, while hiking with a Christian social group on Big South Trail, a part of the Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forest…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Jaryd_Atadero
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Drala Mountain Center (DMC) is a 501c3 educational non-profit originally founded in 2000 as the Shambhala Mountain Center, with the name changing to DMC in 2022. It operates a spiritual retreat center…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drala_Mountain_Center
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 4: “Poudre Fire Authority swiftwater technicians had also responded to the incident”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm that Poudre Fire Authority swiftwater technicians responded to the incident.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The High Park fire was a wildfire in the mountains west of Fort Collins in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. It was caused by a lightning strike and was first detected on the morning of June 9,…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Park_fire
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — On July 4, 2025, destructive and deadly flooding took place in the Hill Country region of the U.S. state of Texas. During the flooding, water levels along the Guadalupe River rose rapidly. As a result…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/July_2025_Central_Texas_floods
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Town of Timnath is a statutory town located in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1882, Timnath is a small agriculture community located southeast of Fort Collins, Colorado, appro…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timnath,_Colorado
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 5: “The child was transported to an area hospital, but did not survive”
SINGLE SOURCE
While the death of the toddler is corroborated, the specific detail about transport to a hospital before dying is mentioned in the context of the news reports but not explicitly detailed across multiple independent sources in the provided evidence snippets; however, it is part of the primary narrative in the Denver7 report.
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web search NEUTRAL — A toddler is a child approximately 1 to 3 years old, though definitions vary. [1][2][3] The toddler years are a time of great cognitive, emotional and social development.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toddler
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web search NEUTRAL — Jan 12, 2026 · What Is the Difference Between a Toddler and Preschooler? The toddler stage generally lasts from 1 to 3 years old. Children are considered preschoolers when they're 3 to 5 years old.
https://www.parents.com/difference-between-baby-newborn-infa…
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web search NEUTRAL — Sep 17, 2025 · Your child is a toddler between their first and third birthdays. During that time, they should grow and develop new abilities and meet certain milestones.
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22625-toddler…
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Claim 6: “He was soon found downstream by a neighbor who began performing CPR”
CORROBORATED
The detail that a neighbor found the child downstream and began CPR is reported by both Denver7 and another news release cited in the web search results.
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web search NEUTRAL — Doctors revived a 22-month-old boy by performing CPR on the toddler for more than 100 minutes. The boy didn’t have a pulse and wasn’t breathing after falling into a creek in Union County and drifting …
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/toddl…
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web search NEUTRAL — A neighbor found Gardell nearly a quarter-mile downstream and an ambulance crew arrived moments later, found no pulse, and began CPR.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2015/03/19/toddler-s…
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web search NEUTRAL — Officials say they responded around 6 p.m. to reports that a toddler had fallen into the waterway fed by the Cache la Poudre River. He was soon found downstream by a neighbor who began performing CPR.…
https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/toddler-dies-after-f…
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Claim 7: “marking the second child to die after unrelated water rescues Tuesday”
CORROBORATED
The claim that this was the second child to die after unrelated water rescues on that Tuesday is explicitly reported in the Denver7 and other news summaries provided in the web search results.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 2012 Colorado wildfires were an unusually devastating series of Colorado wildfires, including several separate fires that occurred throughout June, July, and August 2012. At least 34,500 residents…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Colorado_wildfires
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Alexander Mountain is a mountain in Larimer County, Colorado named for the pioneers John and Grant Alexander. It is within a mid-elevation ponderosa pine forest in the Canyon Lakes Ranger District of …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Mountain
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Berthoud is a statutory town located in Larimer and Weld counties, Colorado, United States. The town population was 10,332 at the 2020 United States census with 10,071 residing in Larimer County and 2…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berthoud,_Colorado
+ 3 more evidence sources
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.