6-month-old baby girl found alive, floating in Missouri pond after father says he drowned her

A 6-month-old was miraculously discovered alive, floating face up in a Missouri pond on Monday, after her father walked into the Greenwood Police Department and confessed — so he thought — to drowning his baby girl.

Police rushed to rescue the infant, retrieved her from the water and were able to revive her after performing CPR. She had been in the water for an estimated 10 minutes or more and was found with mud in her eyes, and grass in her mouth.

What are the details?

Jonathon Zicarelli, 28, made his way to the department around 10 a.m., telling police that he had just drowned his daughter and that he saw her sink after placing her in the water, according to KSHB-TV.

Cpl. T. Calhoun and Police Chief Greg Hallgrimson leapt into action, sped to the location of the pond, and found the child floating on her back in the water. Hallgrimson said the infant wasn't moving when they found her and that she looked like a porcelain doll.

Calhoun quickly performed CPR on the baby girl after pulling her from the water, and she began to breath normally. The officers removed her wet clothing and Calhoun wrapped her in his own uniform shirt in an attempt to warm the child, who was taken to a local hospital where she is recovering from severe hypothermia.

According to Intellicast, the temperature in Greenwood was around 40 degrees at the time the infant was discovered.

Greenwood police Lt. Aaron Fordham told the Kansas City Star, "There was absolutely someone watching over that child today," calling her survival "a miracle."

Why did the father do it?

Zicarelli told investigators that he had been planning to kill the baby for more than a day after having "bad thoughts." He said he was stressed about providing for his family during the holidays, and thought that it would make things easier for his wife if the child were gone.

So, the father reportedly walked down to the water three times before submerging the infant on Monday — assured she had drowned — then he went directly to the police department.

Fordham told the Star that "there was no emotion whatsoever" in the father's confession.

Zicarelli was charged Monday afternoon with domestic assault, KSHB reported. Prosecutors have requested that he be held on a $500,000 cash bond.