A 2-year-old boy died Tuesday after officers responded to a home in Frankfort, Illinois, where police said they also found the child’s mother trying to injure herself in an incident neighbors worried could resemble the Lindsay Clancy case.
Police were called shortly after 4 p.m. to the 22700 block of Brook Stone Court following a report that a child was unresponsive.
When officers arrived, they discovered the young boy inside the residence and immediately began CPR. He was then transported to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Authorities said the boy’s mother was also found at the home with injuries believed to be self-inflicted. She was taken to a hospital for treatment, and police said her injuries were not considered life-threatening.
An investigator stands near the entrance of a Frankfort home as police investigate the death of a 2-year-old boy. (FOX 32 Chicago)
The preliminary investigation points to a domestic-related homicide, police said. Authorities have not disclosed how the boy died, identified the mother or said whether she has been accused of a crime.
The Frankfort Fire Protection District told FOX 32 Chicago that five people were transported from the property after crews were dispatched minutes after police arrived.
Police tape surrounds the Frankfort, Illinois, home where officers found an unresponsive 2-year-old boy. (Fox 32 Chicago)
Officials have not released information about the other three people or explained why they were taken to the hospital.
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The investigation continued Wednesday at the large, two-story home, which sits on a broad lawn at the end of the residential street. Police blocked off the roadway for several hours, and investigators were seen entering and leaving the property.
Police tape surrounds the Frankfort, Illinois, home where a 2-year-old boy died. (FOX 32 Chicago)
Neighbors told NBC Chicago that police remained at the home late Tuesday.
Carolyn Pappas, who lives nearby, said the death has left residents stunned. She told the station that the circumstances brought to mind the case of Clancy, a Massachusetts mother who admitted to killing her three children before attempting to take her own life.
“This is just absolutely devastating, that this could be another Lindsay Clancy situation in our neighborhood, in our community. You never think it’s going to hit so close to home,” she said, NBC Chicago reported. “And so yeah, that absolutely makes us think of that. And again, just more people I think are struggling than we realize and so we just need to be there for one another.”
An investigator works behind police tape outside a Frankfort, Illinois, home where a 2-year-old boy died. (FOX 32 Chicago)
Pappas said the case was a reminder that a person could be struggling with a serious crisis behind closed doors without neighbors realizing it. She urged residents to check on one another and offer support.
Frankfort is about 36 miles southwest of Chicago.
The Frankfort Police Department asked anyone with information about the incident to contact the department at 815-469-9435.