MUSKEGON, Mich. – An 8-year-old girl is suspected in the death of a 1-year-old boy who was found dead at a Muskegon, Michigan, day care when his mother went to pick him up last week, police said Monday.
Muskegon Police Chief Jeffrey Lewis called it one of the worst cases he's seen, MLive.com reported.
"I thought I saw everything," Lewis said, according to the news outlet. "This one floors me. I can hardly get a grip on it."
The boy, identified by sister station WXMI in Grand Rapids as Korey Brown, had bite marks and bruises all over his body when he was found, according to this mother.
"Bruises and bite marks on his face, bite marks on his fingers," his mother, Bryanna Reasonover, told WXMI. "It was bad. I found Korey in a Pack 'N Play, he was laying in there like he was asleep."
An autopsy was performed Saturday, but a cause of death has not been released.
The baby's body was found concealed in a bedroom at the home day care where his mother had dropped him off, the police chief told MLive.com.
Korey was apparently crying when the "8-year-old dealt with the baby crying," Lewis said. There were apparently no adults supervising the children, and the only witness to what happened was a 5-year-old.
The 8-year-old girl was taken to a hospital where she underwent a mental evaluation, MLive.com reported.
Reasonover told WXMI she dropped off Korey and her three other children at Keysha's Keepers day care.
"When his face rolled over, he had all these bruises on the side of his face. And that's when I said, 'What's wrong with my baby's face?'" she said.
Reasonover said day care employees had no idea anything was wrong with Korey. He apparently never woke up and did not regain consciousness.
"It doesn't seem real. It still doesn't seem real to this day. It seems like a dream and I'm going to wake up and he's going to be here," she said.
WXMI went to the day care and tried to speak with the owner, Keysha Collins, but nobody was available for comment. Phone calls were also not immediately returned, the station reported.
State records show the facility's license was approved in November and expires next month.
