Massachusetts Pool Death: Lifeguard Said She Was On a Break

File photo. (JupiterImages/Photos.com)(FALL RIVER, Mass.) -- A nine-year-old boy immediately told lifeguards at a Fall River, Mass., pool that a woman had gone underwater and not come up, but nothing was done and it was more than two days before her body was found.

According to the boy's mother, one of the lifeguards said she was on her break.

Marie Joseph, 36 went to the 12-foot-deep Vietnam Veterans Swimming Pool with a group of people on June 26. Her body was not discovered at the bottom of the public swimming pool in Fall River until the night of June 28.

On Monday, children swam in the pool unaware that her body was at the bottom.

According to law enforcement, Joseph slid down the pool's water slide with a neighbor's nine-year-old son, went under the water and did not surface.

Police said the boy notified two lifeguards separately immediately after the incident, around 2 p.m. Sunday, but no action was taken. Investigators are looking at surveillance video.

Autopsy results released from the Bristol County District Attorney's office Saturday say that Joseph accidentally drowned.

The boy's mother, Danyelle Hunt, 30, said in an interview Friday that her son keeps saying he wishes he were bigger so he could have saved the woman, according to the Boston Globe.

"He's sad because he saw the last moments of Marie's life, and when he tried to do something, nobody listened,'' Hunt said.

Hunt said her son went down a slide at the pool in front of Joseph, and Joseph grazed him on the head as she splashed down from the slide, according to the Boston Globe. Joseph attempted to apologize, but couldn't because she started sinking, according to the boy. He tried to grab her, but Joseph had already sunk to the bottom of the pool.

The boy immediately went to a lifeguard, who told him she was on break, Hunt said. He went to another lifeguard, who told him that they were going to do a pool check "in a minute.''

Although the pool was open to the public, Fall River Mayor William Flanagan said its permit had expired Dec. 31. Two health inspectors visited the pool Monday, Flanagan said, and one of them returned Tuesday and reported that the water was cloudy.

Flanagan has placed two inspectors on administrative leave, and the staff at the pool were suspended.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Massachusetts Woman Dead in Public Pool for Two Days

File photo. (JupiterImages/Photos.com)(FALL RIVER, Mass.) -- The body of a Massachusetts woman went unnoticed for two days in a Fall River public swimming pool, which remained open to the public and was even visited by health inspectors, generating outrage and calls for an investigation.

Marie Joseph, 36, was found Tuesday evening by a passerby, two days after she experienced an apparent accident on the water slide at the 12-foot-deep, state-run Vietnam Veterans Swimming Pool, officials said.

Police said Joseph took her neighbor's son, 9, to the pool Sunday afternoon.

"Marie unexpectedly slid down the slide, landing on top of him," Fall River Police Chief Daniel Racine said Wednesday. He further stated he believed Marie went under the water and did not surface.

Police said the boy notified lifeguards immediately after the incident, around 2 p.m. Sunday, but no action was taken.

William Flanagan, mayor of Fall River, called Joseph's death "tragic" and said he was demanding an investigation.

"It has come to my attention that health inspectors from the city visited the pool on Monday and Tuesday and inspected the facilities. I have immediately placed those inspectors on administrative leave," he said, adding that the city plans to offer assistance to the state Department of Recreation and Conservation, which manages the pools and is conducting the investigation.

A photographer for the Herald News visited the pool Tuesday before Joseph's body was discovered and took a photograph of the crowded pool, which only recently opened for the summer.

Police said it was unclear how many people, if any, had seen Joseph's body in the pool before it was recovered late Tuesday evening. Her body is being autopsied to determine cause of death.

All 30 of Massachusetts' deep-water pools will be closed until further notice.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio