11-year-old boy found dead while in the care of custodial dad, step (Horn Lake, Mississippi)

The obsessive secrecy and family control is typical of abusive situations where adult males are involved. Still an UNNAMED DAD. Notice that the father must have been custodial, but this fact is not mentioned. Predictably, there is not one word about this boy's mother or what happened to her. We don't know whether she is deceased, missing, or lost custody to an abusive ex-husband or boyfriend. But we do know that other "relatives" were also kept from having contact.

http://www.desototimes.com/articles/2014/02/11/news/doc52f9743b682e8150933488.txt

Autopsy key in boy's death
Forensic information forthcoming

By ROBERT LEE LONG Community Editor

Tuesday, February 11, 2014 6:00 AM CST

HORN LAKE — Autopsy results in the death of an 11-year-old Horn Lake boy could not only determine what caused the youngster to die but it will more than likely determine if any charges are to be filed in the case.

The child, who has been identified as Tyler Raines, was found dead in his Valleybrook Cove home while in the care of his father and stepmother.

According to DeSoto County District Attorney John Champion, it could take as long as six weeks for all of the forensic material to be examined in the case.

Horn Lake Police were summoned to the 6200 block of Valleybrook Cove around 10 a.m. last Thursday after the father and stepmother of the child called police to report his death.

The family had lived in several places in recent years, including more recently Marshall County.

Neighbors said the family kept to themselves. Tyler Raines and his siblings rarely emerged from their home.

"We only saw him one time," neighbor Billy Sullivan said Monday. "They moved right before Christmas. A couple of weeks ago when we saw this little boy, he was very thin. When I saw him, I thought to myself that maybe he was seven or eight years old. I now understand that he was 11."

Authorities involved in the case continue to investigate whether abuse or neglect took place.

Relatives of the child asked to see his body before he was cremated, saying they had not been allowed to see him in some time.

The post mortem examination of the child's body has been completed and the body was returned to the family.

"Once the medical examination is through, then it's up to the family to determine what to do next," Champion said, referring to the mode of burial or cremation.

The body has been cremated.

Champion said photographs and specimens from the body have been preserved if and when there are charges filed in the case.