Heartbroken mother sues South Carolina resort after her daughter, 4, drowned in pool 'without any lifeguards' - as vacation hotspot suffers third child death in three years

The heartbroken family of a four-year-old Kentucky girl who drowned in a South Carolina resort pool have launched a lawsuit against the vacation hotspot - which also saw two other child drownings in just three years. 

On April 1, 2021, Demi Williams tragically drowned while on a family trip to Crown Reef Beach Resort and Waterpark, allegedly without a lifeguard in sight. 

Her stricken mother, Destiny Morgan, who was initially charged with neglect over the death before the charges were dropped, said she is suing the resort for an alleged lack of safety measures around the pool. 

'Something has to be done,' she told NBC News. 'I have to do something in honor of my child to make sure that this never happens again.'

Morgan said the horror unfolded on the second night of their vacation, after Demi and her two older siblings spent the day playing in the pool.

That evening, they were taking trips down a lazy river ride while Morgan sat in a hot tub that it circled, and the young girl had only been allowed to ride on the same float as one of her older siblings. 

When she asked to go by herself, Morgan said she told the four-year-old to stand in the pool. After seeing that it was shallow enough for her to easily stand, she allowed Demi to go by herself. 

But she said she knew something was wrong when Demi's older sister got off the ride, and she began frantically searching for her young daughter. 

As she got to one of the resort's pools, which was not on the lazy river, she saw another guest pull Demi from the water, not breathing.   

Because there were no security cameras around the pools, it remains unclear how Demi ended up in the other pool, although her mother suspects she slipped and fell. 

Guests at the resort, including a nurse, began frantically trying to save the young girl's life, and the nurse told Morgan that she could detect a very faint pulse. 

However, there were no defibrillators - a device that delivers an electric shock to restart a heartbeat - stationed at the pool, and Morgan said she tried in vain to find any lifeguards or resort staff to help. 

Demi was rushed to hospital, but was pronounced dead that night. 

Morgan said she launched her lawsuit in hopes of others avoiding similar heartbreak and said she is still shocked by the alleged lack of safety measures, feeling that 'there wasn’t anything that would indicate that they gave a damn about a human life.' 

The Crown Reef resort did not immediately respond to the DailyMail.com's request for comment. 

The South Carolina vacation hotspot is not required by state law to have lifeguards at its pools or stationed on its lazy river, and they are only required at waterslides. 

Other pools are allowed to be unmanned so long as they have signage informing guests that there are no lifeguards on duty. 

State laws also explain why there was no defibrillator, as the state' health and environment department said they pose a threat of electric shock if used on a wet body. 

NBC News reported that the resort is in good standing with state health department investigations, and passed its most recent unannounced inspection in July 2023 as all pools without lifeguards had appropriate signage. 

The department added that signs were also properly in place in 2021, when five-year-old Shane Chester drowned, and 2018, when another young girl, Malayza Fayall, 7, drowned in the resort. 

Fayall's mother had also sued Crown Reef in 2020 on similar grounds and settled in 2023.  

While reportedly complying with state safety laws, Morgan said that signage around pools is not enough to prevent tragedy. 

She said she hoped her lawsuit, which is also seeking unspecified monetary damages, will result in safety upgrades around the resort. 

'More lifeguards, better lighting, more staffing — those are simple solutions that would solve this,' Morgan's attorney Justin Lovely said. 'Close the pool at night if you don’t want to have somebody there at shift.' 

Amy Lawrence, her other attorney, said the 'needless' drowning came after the resort doesn't appear to have made any changes to its safety standards since the 2018 drowning. 

'There should never have been a second or third death,' she added. 

Morgan was initially charged with negligence over her daughter's death, but the charged were later dropped. Morgan said her arrest came within minutes of her daughter's death. 

She said she is still haunted by the tragic loss of her daughter, and says her children are still suffering with what they saw. 

'I still hear all four of my living kids praying to this day,' she said. 'I can hear my oldest daughter saying, "Please wake my sister up, God, please wake my sister up."'