RIVERDALE, Ill. -- Police probing the death of an 18-day-old Riverdale girl suspect her Wednesday death may have been a tragic accident, but will not be sure until an autopsy is performed later Thursday.About 5 a.m. Wednesday, Riverdale police responded to reports of an unresponsive infant in a home on La Salle Street in the south suburb, according to Riverdale police Sgt. Dan Dempsey.Parents of the child told police the baby was crying when they decided to bring the infant into bed with them to sleep, Dempsey said. At some point, one of the parents may have rolled on to the child, but the cause of the baby’s death will not be known until an autopsy is performed Thursday afternoon.
Dempsey said the baby was possibly suffocated, and that it "doesn’t take much" to smother such a small child.Mikayla Thomas of 14204 S. La Salle St. in Riverdale was pronounced dead at Saint Francis Hospital and Health Center in Blue Island at 6:20 a.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.The medical examiner said the baby was 3 months old, but police Thursday said Thomas was only 18 days old.The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is investigating Thomas’s death, according to DCFS spokesman Kendall Marlowe.The agency has had no prior contact with the girl’s family.
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