Posted on: Friday, April 25, 2003

Police investigate child's death

By Rod Ohira and Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writers

Honolulu police homicide investigators today plan to question the babysitter of a 2ý-year-old boy who died yesterday from what an autopsy determined was a "blunt trauma to the head."

Homicide Lt. Bill Kato said police questioned the boy's mother and her boyfriend last night and also the child's father. The boy lived with his mother in Waipahu.

The child was taken to his babysitter's residence in 'Ewa Beach on Tuesday at 6:30 a.m., Kato said.

When his mother's boyfriend picked up the child at 5:15 p.m., the boy was breathing but unresponsive, Kato added.

The child was taken to St. Francis Medical Center West and then to Tripler Army Medical Center's pediatric intensive care unit.

The boy underwent surgery to relieve swelling of the brain and died yesterday at 12:34 a.m.

Police today will check if the medical examiner can determine a time frame of when the child was injured, Kato said.

Kato said the case has been classified as a homicide.

The child was brought to the hospital from an 'Ewa Beach home, according to Kato, but it was not clear where the boy suffered his injuries.

No arrests had been made as of this morning.

"We need to interview and talk to more people before we can really focus in on a suspect," Kato said.