Detectives investigating death of 2-year-old girl in south Spokane home

Spokane County sheriff’s detectives are investigating the death of a 2-year-old girl who was found dead in a home in southeast Spokane.

Deputy Mark Gregory said emergency crews responded to a call at around 1:20 p.m. of “an infant not breathing” in a home in the 3300 block of East 55th Avenue. Spokane County Fire District 8 personnel pronounced the girl dead at the scene.

Spokane County Major Crimes detectives were called to the scene to investigate, as is standard procedure, Gregory said, adding that “unless we know something, then we have to treat everything as a full-blown investigation.”

Neighbors near the area heard screaming around the time emergency crews were called, and when ambulances arrived, one saw a woman wrapped in a blanket who was hysterically crying. She wasn’t sure if she was the toddler’s mother.

“By the way the lady was freaking out, I thought something bad must have happened,” said Kellyshea Barnes, who just returned from a doctor’s appointment when she heard the commotion.

Schuyler Fischer, who lives in a home next door, said his girlfriend heard screams at around 1:15 p.m. while on her lunch break “and then five minutes later, the ambulance was here.”

Fischer said he regularly saw the little girl playing in the backyard, along with about “five or six other children.” He said the home was occupied by about three or four adults.

The other children in the home are staying with their mother, Gregory said.

A cause of death has not been determined.