News Archive

Until a few days before he died, Ruben Patterson was living with his daughter in her Holley By The Sea home.

The veteran of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam war was not Shannon Henson’s biological father. But he was the only dad she’d ever known, having taken her in relatively late in his life. She was his late wife’s granddaughter, though they both adopted her as a child.

A 9-month old child who’d been left in a locked vehicle for several hours on June 9 could not be revived. The Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office got the call on June 9 at 7:45 p.m. about an unresponsive child in the 4600 block of Ephrem Lane in Pace. Deputies arrived and immediately began life saving measures. Shortly after, EMS assumed advanced life support efforts. The child was subsequently pronounced deceased.

Major Crimes Detectives and Crime Scene arrived to begin an investigation and the case remains active, according to a Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office press release.

The father of a 1-year-old who was found drowned in a Navarre Beach canal Sunday night is responsible for her death, according to his Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office arrest report. Through “culpable negligence,” he failed to supervise his daughter, the report said.

Although his daughter, Makennah Potter, who turned 1 last week, was found in the evening, the failure of supervision took place between 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. that afternoon.

Thunderstorms will likely move into the area again today and a low pressure area over the Bay of Campeche has a 50% chance of forming into a tropical depression in the next five days.

Forecasters warn that even if a tropical depression doesn’t form, the system could bring heavy rainfall to the area. The risk of rip currents is also likely to increase.

When guests step out onto the Navarre Beach Fishing Pier, they probably don’t realize how much work goes into keeping it safe and family friendly.

And that safety extends to the welfare of the marine animals that call the area around the pier home. 

A 1-year-old child was pulled from the canal adjacent to 7372 Grand Navarre Boulevard Sunday evening, according to Navarre Beach Fire Rescue Chief Danny Fureigh. The little girl’s death marks the second child drowning death in Navarre in just over a week.

Emergency officials were called to that home just after 8 p.m. A concerned neighbor pulled the body of the toddler out of the canal at about 8:30 p.m.

The Santa Rosa Sheriff’s Office has been called and is handling the investigation.