GIFFORD – Investigators are looking into the death of an 18-month-old boy in Gifford who may have consumed prescription medication.
“It’s certainly suspicious,” Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Thom Raulen said Saturday evening.
The boy, identified as Jonas Delmas, was found unresponsive in his bed by his grandmother, Lisa Ford, at 6:34 a.m. Saturday.
911 dispatchers talked Ford through performing CPR on the child until emergency medical staff could arrive.
The child was taken to Indian Rive Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
Nearly 12 hours later, deputies from the Sheriff’s Office were still at the scene on 29th Avenue near 49th Street investigating the death.
“We’re not sure a crime has occurred,” Sgt. Raulen said, which is why crews were on the scene for so long.
Investigators are trying to determine the circumstances surrounding Delmas’ death and are looking into the possibility that the child obtained and consumed and unknown type or quantity of a prescription medication, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
There were also two other children in the home and they were being medically evaluated as of this afternoon as a precaution, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Ford has been identified as the custodial guardian of Delmas and his siblings. No information is currently available on the biological parents.
The Department of Children and Family Services has also been notified and will be working in conjunction with the Sheriff’s Office investigators.
An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of death.
