Local & State Headlines

Report in child death could take months

J.D. Sumner

ALBANY — Toxicology results for a child, who investigators say died at an Albany apartment complex over the weekend after apparently falling into a bucket of cleaning solution, could take months to definitively decide how the child died, authorities said.

One-year-old Asia Brown died while being rushed to a hospital Saturday afternoon. Her mother told police that the child became unresponsive after she found her lying near a mop bucket inside their Nottingham North Apartment, APD spokesperson Phyllis Banks said.

Asia’s body was sent to the state crime lab in Atlanta for an autopsy Monday, but investigators say it could be several weeks or months before a definitive cause of death can be determined.

Dougherty Coroner Emma Quimbley said Tuesday that before she can determine the manner and cause of Asia’s death, she has to wait for a backlogged crime lab to return the child’s toxicology screen.

“The toxicology tests may be the only way we can tell if that child drowned or died some other way,” Quimbley said. “Unfortunately, that could take anywhere from three weeks to three months because things are so backed up right now.”

The Child Death Investigation Team, a multi-agency unit that responds when children are found dead, met Tuesday morning to discuss the case, although no definitive outcome was reached.

Quimbley called the case heartbreaking and said that it is especially vital to make sure that the conclusion reached about the death of a child is the right one and not some knee-jerk reaction.

“We have to go by the evidence and the facts,” Quimbley said. “And unfortunately, its going to be a little while before we get those in this case. It’s heartbreaking to watch a family have to wait like this.”

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