Posted: 1/10/06
Boyís death still a mystery
There is still no word on the December 5 cause of death of two-year-old Dylan King.
The boy was reported to be unresponsive at 3:30 p.m. that day by Charles Stark, the boyfriend of the boyís mother, Sara King, at her home at 1018 Sunrise Lane in Caledonia.
CPR efforts by police chief Randy Shefelbine and paramedics were unsuccessful. Dylan was taken by ambulance to Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
The cause of death is eluding authorities. The victim did not choke on a piece of food, as Stark had originally thought and reported in his call to 9-1-1.
An autopsy was done on December 6, but the cause of death could not be determined. Medical staff at the Minnesota Regional Coronerís Office at Regina Medical Center in Hastings have since done toxicology tests to see if the death could have been caused by a chemical or poisoning. They are also looking at family medical history, Shefelbine said on January 5.
ìTheyíre working on it,î he said. ìTheyíre going through a whole different series of exams, I guess. Everything up to this point is negative. . . Weíre hoping any day theyíll have an answer for us one way or another.î
That does not look likely. Dr. Lindsey Thomas, coroner at Regina Medical Center, told The Argus on January 6 that she is waiting for the investigation from law enforcement to be more complete before a cause of death, if any, can be determined.
ìIím pretty much done with what I can do at this point,î Thomas said. She said she did an autopsy, toxicology report, and metabolic screening.
What did she find? ìNot much,î Thomas answered.
It is not unusual with an infant or child death that an autopsy does not give an answer, Thomas said. ìFrequently the autopsy doesnít show anything abnormal or minimally abnormal.î
It takes a scene investigation and interviews with witnesses to figure out what happened, Thomas said. ìIt takes other information, history, that kind of stuff to figure out what happened.î
Cause of death can go as undermined, she said. ìUsually we end up making some kind of determination, but it often requires more than we found at the autopsy.î
The case has been very frustrating, Shefelbine said. He wants to get it cleared up for the familyís sake. ìI really want to have an answer for these people.î
A search warrant, obtained with the cooperation of the family, was executed on the residence on December 6 to look for chemicals or medications that the boy could have been ingested.
Caledonia Argus
314 West Lincoln St.
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Caledonia, MN 55921-0227
507/724-3475
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