Infant in unlicensed daycare likely died of asphyxiation from car seat chest clip, autopsy reveals
Eight-month-old boy lwas in the care of Deborah Lundstrom, who was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter
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An eight-month-old boy who died while in unlicensed daycare was likely suffocated by the chest clip of a car seatbelt, according to an autopsy report revealed in court documents.
The infant was in the front seat of a car when he stopped breathing and medical examiners found a “horizontal segmented line” across his neck as the only visible injury, the Springfield News-Ledger reported.
The child was in the care of Deborah Lundstrom, who was arrested and charged with involuntary manslaughter after the death on 2 March.
The day he died, the 47-year-old was allegedly caring for nine children under the age of three at her home in Missouri. Police claimed she placed the infant in a car seat before leaving all the children home alone for about 12 minutes.
It was alleged in court documents that Ms Lundstrom had been operating a daycare without a licence for 18 years. She allegedly lied to police about leaving the children alone before later saying she left children infants alone to pick up her 15-year-old son from school.
On returning from the school, she found the child wasn’t breathing and called 911.
In addition to involuntary manslaughter, Ms Lundstrom faces charges of endangering the welfare of a child where the child died, eight counts of endangering the welfare of a child and creating a substantial risk to that child and operating a daycare without a license.