Non-designated swim area signage in question after drowning

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (WTNH) -- Police are searching for better ways to mark a non-designated swim area in Fairfield after a young girl drowned there earlier this week.

Ten-year-old Catherine Perez Trujillo drowned in the Northern part of Fairfield's Lake Mohegan on Tuesday.

The lake's designated swimming area was closed due to high bacteria in the water, so the girl's family went to another spot. They say they didn't see any signs indicating they could not swim there.

"There is no signage," said Edgar Rodriguez, Funeral Director at Luz de Paz Funeral Home. "It looks like a beach area, it looks like sand in the area, so nothing led them to believe they weren't supposed to be there."

Another person drowned in the non-designated swim area last year. It's a dangerous area because the water depth changes fast and there are underwater plants in which a swimmer can become tangled.

News 8 went looking for the "No Swimming" signs.

In the area where the family would have made its way toward the water from the parking lot there's not a single sign saying no swimming. However, there is a sign posted elsewhere in the non-designated swim area, and signs posted throughout the parking lot. It does say no swimming, but some say it's easy to miss.

In the spot where the family came to swim Tuesday, and near the sand bar where the girl drowned, there is not a single sign posted that says you can't swim there.

"Really words can not explain not only her surprise, but disappointed to know that she wasn't supposed to be there," said Rodriguez.

Police are now looking into better marking the area.

"People make choices and the choice was that they were going to go to this area to swim," said Chief Gary MacNamara, Fairfield Police Department. "We have to make sure we're doing all that we can to discourage that choice. And if there's more signage that needs to be out there we're going to look at that also."