A 5-month-old baby was pronounced dead Thursday afternoon near 56th Street and Mill Road on Milwaukee's north side, after officers responding to the home found the infant unresponsive. Police say foul play is not suspected at this time, though the cause of death remains under investigation.
According to WISN, Milwaukee police were called to the residence just before 2 p.m. Thursday, where they found the baby unresponsive. The outlet reports that online state records show the address is a licensed at-home day care, raising immediate questions about the conditions under which the infant was being cared for when the emergency call came in.
Police have not disclosed how many children were present at the home or what prompted the 911 call, and the station's report does not say whether the infant was a client of the day care or a resident of the home. What is confirmed, per the same account, is that investigators do not currently believe the death resulted from a criminal act, even as the medical determination of how the baby died is still pending.
A Painful Pattern of Unanswered Questions in Milwaukee
Thursday's case is not the first time Milwaukee has grappled with the sudden death of a 5-month-old. In September, CBS 58 reported that police were investigating the death of a 5-month-old baby near 37th Street and Kiley Avenue, also on the city's north side.
CBS 58 separately reported that the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office investigated the death of a 5-month-old infant who died at a daycare facility on a Tuesday, though that report did not disclose where the facility was located. It is not established whether that case is connected in any way to Thursday's death near 56th and Mill.
Other infant deaths have drawn scrutiny from Milwaukee investigators in recent memory. Seehafer News reported on a Milwaukee case in which a 7-month-old was discovered unresponsive near 25th Street and Hadley and the death was ultimately ruled suspicious, a different outcome than what police have indicated so far in Thursday's case. And in a case dating back to January 2016, CBS 58 reported the death of a 5-month-old baby girl in the 1600 block of South 21st Street.
What Investigators Say Happens Next
For now, Milwaukee police have offered no timeline for when a cause of death might be determined in Thursday's case. The investigation remains active, and no additional details about the child or the day care's operating history have been released.
