Prosecutors in South Jersey are interviewing a man after a toddler was found dead Thursday inside her Sicklerville home where he was staying.
Crime scene investigators flooded the home along Marcia Court near Monroe Place around noon. When officers arrived they found the unresponsive 18-month-old on the front lawn, Camden County Prosecutor Mary Eva Colalillo said.
Law enforcement sources said the mother awoke to find the toddler not moving in the crib.
Neighbors tell NBC10 that the woman frantically ran out of the home screaming for someone to save her baby.
"We were just trying to keep going and keep going and keep going, but we really couldnβt do anything for him," Krista Gonzalez, a neighbor who came out to help the woman, said.
Gonzalez said the woman kept repeating "I hear your voice" to the child as they tried to revive him.
Sources with knowledge of the investigation said a close family friend who was staying in the home was missing when the boy was found. Police considered the man, who was initially described as a boyfriend, a person of interest in the case.
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Police were able to catch up with the man Friday and were interviewing him.
No arrests have been made.
An autopsy was completed Friday. Investigators have not said how the child died but sources said they do not believe he succumbed to natural causes.