Toddler dies in suburban Chicago home as mother hospitalized with self-inflicted injuries
A 2-year-old boy died Tuesday after police found him unresponsive in a Frankfort, Illinois home, where his mother was also discovered with self-inflicted injuries. Authorities are treating the case as a domestic-related homicide.
A 2-year-old boy died Tuesday after police were called to a home in Frankfort, Illinois, where officers also found the child’s mother attempting to harm herself. The preliminary investigation points to a domestic-related homicide, police said.
Officers were dispatched shortly after 4 p.m. to the 22700 block of Brook Stone Court after receiving a report of an unresponsive child. When they arrived, officers found the boy inside the home and began CPR before he was taken to a nearby hospital, where he later died. The boy’s mother was also found at the residence with injuries believed to have been self-inflicted. She was hospitalized with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
Authorities have not disclosed how the boy died, identified the mother, or said whether she has been accused of a crime. The Frankfort Fire Protection District told FOX 32 Chicago that five people were transported from the property after crews were dispatched minutes after police arrived. Officials have not released information about the other three people or explained why they were taken to the hospital.
The investigation continued Wednesday at the large, two-story home, which sits on a broad lawn at the end of the residential street. Police blocked off the roadway for several hours, and investigators were seen entering and leaving the property. Neighbors told NBC Chicago that police remained at the home late Tuesday.
Carolyn Pappas, who lives nearby, said the death has left residents stunned. She told the station that the circumstances brought to mind the case of Lindsay Clancy, a Massachusetts mother who admitted to killing her three children before attempting to take her own life. “This is just absolutely devastating, that this could be another Lindsay Clancy situation in our neighborhood, in our community. You never think it’s going to hit so close to home,” she said, NBC Chicago reported. “And so yeah, that absolutely makes us think of that. And again, just more people I think are struggling than we realize and so we just need to be there for one another.”
Pappas said the case was a reminder that a person could be struggling with a serious crisis behind closed doors without neighbors realizing it. She urged residents to check on one another and offer support.
Frankfort is about 36 miles southwest of Chicago. The Frankfort Police Department asked anyone with information about the incident to contact the department at 815-469-9435.
