JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville mother and her attorney are calling for urgent safety changes at a local apartment complex more than a year after a young girl drowned in a retention pond on the property.
Melani Ava Mixson, was nonverbal, wandered away from her apartment community before being found in a nearby retention pond, according to her family. She was 2 years old.
On Tuesday, her mother and a family attorney held a news conference at the complex, demanding management address what they describe as ongoing safety violations.
‘Something must be done’
The family’s attorney said the pond’s current condition does not match how it was originally designed. He said the land surrounding the water was once gradual, with native plants along the bank to prevent erosion and limit access. That’s no longer the case.
“The way that pond was designed and was supposed to be maintained is not what you find today,” he said. “And why? Because Rickman Property Services, the management company for this complex, quite frankly, has no one qualified on staff to make sure that mandatory maintenance safety codes for that pond are followed.”
He said state law requires property managers to act when a pond becomes dangerous — either by restoring the slope or installing a fence. Despite the lawsuit and repeated requests, he said nothing has changed.
“We have begged for change. But they have done nothing,” he said. “And they know better.”
The attorney pointed to another Rickman Property Services location as evidence the company understands the requirement.
“If you go to their other properties, one just a couple of miles away, they have retention ponds. And what else do they have? Fences around those ponds,” he said.
Milani’s mother stood at the complex near the pond where her daughter died and described the daily weight of her loss.
“I am the mother of Milani Ava Mixon,” she said. “It’s hard. It’s hard being here alone without her already, knowing that was my one and only.”
She said children still play near the unfenced pond regularly — kicking balls, playing football, playing soccer — and the lack of a barrier terrifies her.
“I see a lot of kids actually playing around the fence and it just, it doesn’t make me feel good at all,” she said. “It just would make me feel a lot better if it was a fence around it. They play football, they kick a ball, they play soccer. Like it’s so much that can happen.”
She described her daughter as a child who lit up every room without saying a word.
“She was a baby who could bring the light out of the darkness in somebody. I promise she didn’t even have to say anything to you,” she said. “Just one look at her, and she’d steal your whole world.”
When asked about a favorite memory, she smiled through tears.
“Whenever I ask her for a kiss, she comes up to me and she’ll do BAH! Just like that. That’s how she kisses me,” she said.
Lawsuit, compliance, accountability
The attorney said a wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against Rickman Property Services and the listed property owner, Bowden Road Housing Limited. He described the latter as a shell corporation.
“Don’t be fooled, that’s a shell corporation — [Rickman] creates [it] in order to just serve as the owner of this property. They do that at basically all of their properties,” he said. “At the end of the day, Rickman Property Services is fully operating this place and should know better.”
He said trial is scheduled for the fall.
The attorney noted that Rickman’s sister companies involved in the complex’s original construction did employ engineers who understood slope requirements and safety standards — but that knowledge did not carry over to property management.
“Once it was turned over to management — nothing,” he said.
News4JAX reached out to the owners of the Bennett Creek Apartments. We will update this story when we receive a response.
Children with autism face heightened drowning risk
Advocates at Tuesday’s news conference plan to highlight the particular dangers retention ponds pose to children with autism and other vulnerable populations — a group that includes Melani.
Experts say children with autism are known to be drawn to water and may lack awareness of its dangers, making unsecured water hazards especially life-threatening in residential communities.
Florida’s drowning crisis
May is National Water Safety Month, and families are preparing for increased exposure to pools, lakes, retention ponds, and vacation properties as summer travel picks up.
Florida regularly ranks among the states with the highest number of child drownings, and drowning remains a leading cause of accidental death for children ages 1–4 nationwide. Advocates say retention ponds — common features in Florida apartment complexes and residential developments — are an underrecognized part of that crisis.