Police: 'Lack of adult supervision' when girl, 9, drowned in Alsip hotel pool

ALSIP, Ill. (WLS) -- There was a "lack of adult supervision" at a south suburban Alsip hotel pool when 9-year-old drowned this weekend, police investigators said.

Adriana Douglas, a 9-year-old from Highland Park, Mich., was in town for a weekend cheerleading competition when she drowned Saturday at the DoubleTree hotel.

Her family is also raising questions about whether the pool equipment was to blame.

Douglas, a third grader, was with her father and brother.

Signs on the wall of the pool area warn that persons under age 16 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian or other responsible persons at least 16.

Alsip police investigators told the I-Team that there were as many as two dozen people in the pool Saturday night, and that the overwhelming majority was the same age as the victim - 9 years old - along with the victim's 11-year-old brother.

"My son said she was having fun, swimming, going up and down," said Latice Douglas, the victim's mother.

Douglas also said that her daughter's swimsuit got caught in the drain suction at the pool and that no one could pry her away from the bottom of the pool.

Police officials said the hotel pool filtration system is one focus of their investigation and results expected next week.

Drain suction was a problem in public pools for more than a decade. In 2010, Illinois required upgrades in public pool drain systems to prevent suction accidents.

Regardless of how the drowning occurred, or who was responsible for the supervision, the Douglas family will have an empty chair for Thanksgiving dinner.

"I just want people to hold their babies, because they can be taken in the blink of an eye. You never know that your baby is not going to come home. She was so beautiful," Douglas said. "And that is all I can think about is my beautiful baby is not coming home and it is so hard."

A 10-year-old boy drown in that same pool three years ago under similar circumstances, without parental supervision, police said. There are no lifeguards on duty at that pool.

The pool was open Wednesday for hotel guests.

Neither the DoubleTree in Alsip or company executives have calls.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office case is still open.