SHELBY TWP., Mich. – Heat stroke is being blamed for the death of a 2-year-old boy who was left in a van for several hours outside a home in Shelby Township.
Police Chief Roland Woelkers said the boy was found unresponsive and not breathing strapped in a car seat Tuesday evening at the Dequindre Estates mobile home park on Marmoor Drive.
The boy has been identified to Local 4 by family members as James Everett Lawrence Nelson. He was rushed to Beaumont Hospital in Troy, but pronounced dead.
Woelkers said the boy's temperature at the hospital registered at 108.
Woelkers said the boy was often in the care of family members and friends while his mother was at work. Investigators are still trying to figure out who was supposed to be watching the boy.
Neighbor Vince Wethy told Local 4 the boy and his mother had only recently moved in.
"The little boy used to play in my yard all the time, can't believe it happened right next to me, it's shocking," he said.
Wethy said the boy's mother sat in chair in front of her home for the duration of the investigation, which lasted until about 2 a.m. Wednesday.