Boy's body may have been in pool 2 days

Preliminary coroner's opinion: No signs of foul play

Paolo Ayala was reported missing Sunday after a pool party in Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- There is a "strong possibility" that a missing 7-year-old boy's body was in a swimming pool since Sunday when he was first reported missing by his parents, despite repeated searches by detectives, a senior police official told CNN.

Paolo Ayala vanished after attending a pool party in the upscale Los Angeles neighborhood of Westwood. A housekeeper in the home discovered the body at the bottom of the pool about 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

After the discovery, police initially said they believed the boy's body had been placed in the pool after they had searched the area, suggesting foul play. But at a second news conference later in the day, police officials started to back away from that theory.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO Los Angeles, California, police say searchers may have missed seeing a 7-year-old boy lying dead for two days in a pool. CNN's Frank Buckley reports. (June 5) Play video

A Los Angeles Police Department official stressed that the situation could change again once an autopsy is completed Wednesday. A preliminary opinion by the coroner shows signs consistent with drowning, but no signs of foul play, the official said.

The official said part of the reason it is taking longer than usual to determine cause of death is the decomposition of the body -- an indication that it may have been submerged in water for two days.

The police official also said detectives have been getting different stories from those who attended the pool party, prompting them to consider different theories of what may have happened to the boy.

At the later news conference, David Kalish, the deputy police chief with the Los Angeles Police Department, acknowledged to reporters that what happened to the boy remained a mystery.

"There is a certain amount of uncertainty here," he said. "It will be a while before we can get to the parents to tell them exactly what happened. We're going to leave no stone unturned."

Los Angeles County coroner's officials remove Paolo's body from the Los Angeles home where it was found Tuesday.

Authorities had searched the pool area extensively after Ayala was reported missing. Kalish also said a pool maintenance man serviced the pool Monday after it was searched, but did not see the body. He added chemicals, but did not sweep or vacuum it, Kalish said.

When the boy's body was removed from the pool, he was wearing the swimming trunks he had been wearing when he disappeared, and there was no obvious trauma to the body, said Kalish.