An autopsy on a dead baby found swinging in a Maryland public playground Friday has left police scratching their heads and hoping additional toxicology tests will provide some answers.
The deceased 3-year-old and his emotionally upset mother were at the park swingset for so many hours that concerned onlookers contacted the authorities to investigate whether the two were actually all right.
When officers arrived to inquire about their well being they discovered the mother’s child had in fact died, but saw no outward signs of trauma on the boy’s body, and couldn’t place the time or manner of his death.
Since then, the 24-year-old mom has been under observation at a medical facility, and the dead swinging baby at the coroner’ office for examination.
In the interim, someone claiming to be the child’s grandmother contacted a local broadcast station to assure curious reporters that her daughter “would never harm my grandson in any type of way.”
At the same time, though, the caller did concede that the obviously troubled young woman had been diagnosed recently with a mental condition, the nature of which wasn’t disclosed.
Investigators declined to comment on any of those revelations, or whether mental illness played a role in the swinging boy’s death for which foul play has not been ruled out yet.
While they await the results of further testing by the medical examiner, they continue to try to piece together a timeline of events that can help solve this tragic mystery.
