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Police investigate 5-year-old child's death as abuse, neglect case

Cleveland police
Posted at 11:50 AM, Mar 23, 2023
and last updated 2023-03-23 19:26:00-04

A 5-year-old girl who died Tuesday afternoon in Cleveland may have been the victim of child abuse or neglect, according to the Cleveland Division of Police.

Police said a private car transported the girl from the 11900 block of Forest Avenue to Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital around 4:30 p.m. She was pronounced dead a short time later. Detectives responded to the hospital and the home she was brought from to investigate.

News 5 spoke to neighbors in the area, such as Diamond, who saw the officials arrive on scene. At first, they were confused; but knew something had happened.

"The woman that sits over there, I believe it was her and her boyfriend, she was outside she was kinda hysterical for a second screaming and stuff and he kinda, he didn’t have any emotions or anything," Diamond said.

Diamond lives across the street from where police say the incident happened. She said she was surprised to hear it was a child that who died.

"To find out it was a 5-year-old and we have been staying in this area for about two years now and we haven’t have never seen a child come out ya know in the summertime or anything," Diamond said.

News 5 spoke with multiple neighbors who echoed that same statement, saying they never once saw a child come in or out of that house.

"If the baby was five, someone would have seen something, you don't go to the store and not take your child with you," said Diamond.

The matter is being looked at as a case of abuse or neglect, police said.

No charges have been filed at this time.

Additional details have not been released.

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