Anello pleads guilty in death of granddaughter on Puerto Rico cruise ship

FILE - This May 11, 2006 file photo shows the Freedom of the Seas cruise ship docked in Bayonne, N.J. On Monday, Feb. 24, 2020, Salvatore "Sam" Anello, an Indiana man who was holding his granddaughter before she fell from an open window of the cruise ship and plunged to her death in July 2019 in Puerto Rico, agreed to plead guilty in her death, explaining that he was doing so "to try to help end part of this nightmare for my family." (AP Photo/Mike Derer, File)

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Network Indiana) — The grandfather responsible for an Indiana toddler who fell from a cruise ship window and died has pled guilty to negligent homicide.

As part of the plea agreement, Sam Anello will not serve any time in prison for the death of Chloe Weigand.

The attorney for the family says the decision to agree to plead guilty was incredibly difficult but “in the best interests of the family” so that they can “close this horrible chapter of their lives.”

In July 2019, Anello held the 18-month-old girl up to, what he thought, was a glass window. But it was open, and she slipped from his grasp and fell 150 feet.

Earlier this year, Anello said “he was horribly wrong about their surroundings” and that “it will always be a constant nightmare every day and every night for the rest of his life.”

The family is still suing Royal Caribbean over the incident.