Custodial dad, fiancee suspected in death of 4-year-old boy (Belle Plaine, Kansas)

UNNAMED DAD and his fiancee are suspected in the asphyxiation death of a 4-year-old boy. Sounds like Dad is custodial. Not a word on the child's mother or how the boy came to live with his father. Maybe the Wichita Eagle could find out?

http://www.kansas.com/news/crime-courts/story/931350.html

Autopsy: Boy died of asphyxiation
BY TIM POTTER
The Wichita Eagle

BELLE PLAINE — An autopsy in an investigation involving several law enforcement agencies has found that a 4-year-old boy died of asphyxiation, Police Chief Gordon Fell said Friday.

Investigators have been interviewing family members, including other children from the home.
Tuesday's death of Caden Michael Reames is still considered suspicious, Fell said in a statement read outside the Belle Plaine Police Department.

Fell wouldn't say specifically how the death occurred or speculate on whether there could be arrests.

"We're not considering any suspects at this time. We're trying to establish what actually occurred," he said.

Using a search warrant, investigators took several items from the home, Fell said.

The investigation has used resources of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Wichita-Sedgwick County Exploited and Missing Child Unit, the Wichita Police Department and the Sumner County Sheriff's Office.

The Child Unit is involved because of its expertise in interviewing children, Fell said.

One of the challenges of the investigation is the need to communicate with children, he said.

Four other children from the home have been taken into protective custody, Fell said.

"Interviews are ongoing with everyone who was at the home when the incident occurred. The family is cooperating with law enforcement," he said.

The family could not be reached for comment.

Interviews and other investigative work will continue through the weekend.

The 4-year-old's death is a tragedy for the family and for investigators, and the work on the case has been exhausting, Fell said.

"I'm spent."

Caden was pronounced dead at a Wichita hospital at 4:04 p.m. Tuesday, about an hour after emergency workers responded to a call at his home that he was not breathing.

The boy lived in the home with the four other children, his father and his father's fiancee. Some of the children belong to Caden's father and some to the father's fiancee, Belle Plaine police Sgt. Bill Berry said.

Fell said the earliest he expects to provide more information about the investigation is Tuesday evening.