The death of 3-year-old Trigg Kiser, the son of social media influencer Emilie Kiser, has gripped the nation since the incident occurred on May 12, 2025. The Chandler Police Department’s recently released report, partially redacted after a court order, paints a heartbreaking picture of the events leading to the toddler’s drowning in the family’s backyard pool. While the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office declined to press charges against Trigg’s father, Brady Kiser, the details have sparked intense debate about parental responsibility, pool safety, and the intersection of tragedy and social media fame.
According to the report, Brady was home alone with Trigg and their newborn son, Theodore, while Emilie was out with friends. Surveillance footage revealed that Trigg was left unsupervised in the backyard for over nine minutes, during which he tripped while playing with an inflatable chair and fell into the uncovered pool. He was submerged for approximately seven minutes before Brady found him.
Despite immediate CPR and emergency response, Trigg died six days later in the hospital. The police initially recommended a Class 4 felony child abuse charge against Brady, citing negligence, but prosecutors ultimately ruled there was no “reasonable likelihood of conviction.”
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The Timeline and Discrepancies in the Report
The Chandler Police Department’s investigation uncovered critical discrepancies between Brady’s account and the surveillance footage. Brady initially told officers he had lost sight of Trigg for “three to five minutes,” but video evidence showed the toddler was unattended for more than nine minutes, with seven of those minutes spent in the water. Police noted Brady’s attention was “divided,” as he was caring for the couple’s newborn and later admitted he wasn’t actively watching Trigg during that time. The report also mentioned that an NBA playoff game was on in the background, and Brady had placed a $25 sports bet earlier that evening, though there was no evidence he was distracted by his phone at the exact time of the incident.
♦ENTERTAINMENT
Emilie Kiser’s 3-year-old son drowned after being left unsupervised near an unsecured pool, but prosecutors declined to charge his father — Police
Source : TMZ pic.twitter.com/6vbcGcavhx
— AMEBO (@Amaebo3) August 9, 2025
The pool’s safety measures, or lack thereof, were another focal point. The family typically used a “Katchakid” safety net, but it wasn’t in place that day. Additionally, none of the four backyard access doors had functioning alarms or self-closing mechanisms, which might have alerted Brady when Trigg wandered outside. Both parents acknowledged that while Trigg had taken swim lessons, he wasn’t proficient and couldn’t have saved himself in an emergency. Emilie had even shared a TikTok video in 2023 showing Trigg jumping off a diving board, but she later clarified to police that he “didn’t fully know how to swim.”
The Legal and Emotional Fallout
In early August, Emilie won a court order to redact two pages of the police report that detailed Trigg’s “graphic final moments,” arguing their release would serve no public purpose beyond “morbid curiosity.” The Arizona Superior Court agreed, though some media outlets, like AZ Central (the digital platform of The Arizona Republic), opposed the move, claiming the redactions obscured context for why police recommended charges. Meanwhile, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office stood by its decision not to prosecute, stating the evidence didn’t meet the threshold for criminal negligence. Brady’s attorney called the drowning a “tragic accident,” and the family has remained largely out of the public eye since Trigg’s death.
In a tragic twist, Brady Kiser discovered his 3-year-old son Trigg drowning in their backyard pool due to the family’s dog alerting him, yet police reports contradict his timeline, suggesting Ignored supervision led to the tragedy. pic.twitter.com/uO98qFdQAK
— Nyra Kraal (@NyraKraal) August 9, 2025
The case has ignited conversations about child safety, with experts pointing out that drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for young children. For Emilie, a mom who built her online brand around parenting and family life, the tragedy has been compounded by the scrutiny that comes with internet fame. She hasn’t posted on social media since May 12, and both she and Brady have disabled comments on their profiles. While some critics argue the incident highlights preventable negligence, others emphasize that no legal outcome could outweigh the family’s grief. As one supporter wrote on social media, “They’ll punish themselves for the rest of their lives.”
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The story of Trigg Kiser is a sobering reminder of how quickly a moment of inattention can spiral into irreversible loss. Beyond the legal debates, it’s a deeply human tragedy, one that has left a family shattered and a community grappling with hard questions about accountability, privacy, and the fragile nature of life.
