Police investigate parents in death of 5-month-old

Police are investigating a Spokane mother and father in connection with last month’s death of their 5-month-old baby.

The baby girl was found dead by her parents on July 5 in their east Spokane apartment at 2712 E. South Riverton. Responders found blood coming from the baby’s mouth and an unknown substance coming from her ear, according to search warrant documents released this week.

An autopsy was inconclusive about the cause of death, but more toxicology tests are being completed, said Spokane Police Lt. Scott Stephens. A lab report showed that the baby had a blood-alcohol level of .04 at the time of her death.

The parents told police they have no idea why the child had alcohol in her system, court records say.

“We are not focusing on one individual more than another,” Stephens said about the investigation.

Less than two months prior to the baby’s death, Child Protective Services received a report that the mother had shaken the baby. The allegation was investigated by CPS but was not substantiated, according to court records.

The parents and baby lived in the apartment with another couple and their baby. Neighbors said that both couples vacated the apartment soon after the death.

Dan Hall, who lived in the apartment below, said that the other woman in the apartment came to him for help when the parents found the lifeless baby. He and another neighbor performed CPR even though he thought the girl was dead.

Hall said he sometimes heard the couple yelling at each other and the mom hollering at the baby. Police came to the apartment several times during the few months the couple lived in the complex, he said.

“I could hear the baby all the time from here, screaming, crying to the top of its lungs,” he said.

In an interview with police, the mother said that earlier in the day she was feeding the baby when the infant began crying inconsolably. The mom said she became frustrated because she could not calm the baby and that she woke up the dad, who was able to get the baby to stop crying. Later, the parents gave the girl a bath, played with her and laid her down for a nap, they told investigators.

While the mom and dad were playing Yahtzee, they checked on their daughter and found her dead.

The father told police that when the mother gave him the baby, her cry was a “painful cry,” indicating a problem other than hunger or a needed diaper change, court records say.

Witnesses told police that they had seen the parents wrap the baby’s face with blankets to hold a pacifier in her mouth. The mother said that at such times, they made sure the baby’s nose and eyes were not covered, documents say.

Another witness reported seeing the mother blow marijuana smoke in the girl’s face, according to court records.

Stephens said the investigation could take weeks as detectives wait for a cause of death to be determined.