SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A death investigation is underway after a child was found dead in the Goulds neighborhood of Southwest Miami-Dade.
According to Miami-Dade Police, a 911 call came in just after 11 a.m., Thursday, regarding a 1-year-old boy not breathing.
Authorities responded to a house located near Southwest 217th Street and 122nd Avenue. Upon their arrival, they found the child, identified as Ethan Coley, with severe burns from his mid-torso to his toes.
“By that time the paramedics were there, and when paramedics tried to, I guess, do an EKG or whatever they were doing, and when they zipped down the baby’s onesie, the baby was burned from neck to his knees,” said neighbor Molita Cunningham, “just completely burned.”
Police said Coley’s mother, Christina Hurt, refused to take her toddler to the hospital after he suffered severe burns Wednesday night.
Hurt said she was at her home in Homestead, when she left her son on an infant chair while she took out the trash. When she came back inside, she said she found her 10-year-old daughter holding Coley, who was screaming.
Police said Hurt told them her daughter was trying to give the toddler a bath, but the water was too hot, causing severe burns. Instead of taking the child to the hospital, she gave the toddler some Tylenol and juice and went to bed.
The next morning, at a friend’s house in Goulds, Hurt was urged to call 911, but refused.
The toddler’s condition got worse and several neighbors attempted to intervene and called 911.
“My brother ran over to try to help with the situation and found the baby – the 1-year-old – was laying on a dirty mattress,” said Cunningham, “and at the time, he was trying to do CPR, but the baby threw up, [what] looked like apple juice.”
“We was trying to do CPR,” said neighbor Jay Joseph. “The baby died on the bed.”
However, their efforts would be in vain, and the child was pronounced dead at the scene.
During the investigation, Hurt told police she had temporarily lost custody of her children, which is why she was reluctant to take her son to the hospital.
Investigators learned that Hurt had previously been under investigation by the Department of Children and Families for child neglect.
She also told them she had temporarily lost custody of her children, which is why she was reluctant to take her son to the hospital.
Hurt has been charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child.
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