WATERVILLE – State police are still awaiting test results that may determine why an infant died nearly three months ago at the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter on Ticonic Street.

Waterville police were called to the shelter May 18 for a 12-week-old baby who had stopped breathing, Deputy Chief Charles Rumsey said at the time. Efforts to revive the infant were unsuccessful.

State police took over the investigation with help from Waterville police. Rumsey said he was told that it could take months to learn the results of the investigation.

State police Sgt. Anna Love echoed those sentiments.

“The process takes, sometimes, quite a while because we’re waiting for test results, whether or not it’s toxicology or samples that are sent out,” she said recently. “It just depends on the circumstances of the case.”

The state Attorney General’s Office requires that deaths of children under 3 be investigated by state police and the state Medical Examiner’s Office, according to both Love and Steve McCausland, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.

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Rumsey said when police arrive at a scene and determine there’s been a death that fits certain criteria, they call in state police.

“We work with them in a support capacity,” Rumsey said.

When the investigation is complete, state police will report the results to Waterville police.

The medical examiner de- cides which labs to send samples to, depending on the type of testing needed, Love said.

Betty Palmer, the homeless shelter’s director, said at the time it was a tragic incident and every attempt was made by shelter officials, emergency workers and hospital personnel to revive the infant.

“It was his time, and he went to sleep and did not wake up,” she said at the time.

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Neither Palmer nor police would release the baby’s name.

Morning Sentinel Staff Writer Amy Calder can be contacted at 861-9247 or at:

acalder@centralmaine.com

 


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