Saturday’s declaration that a two-year-old boy from Cochise County was declared brain dead after being hospitalized earlier in the week has prompted an investigation by the Sierra Vista Police Department into how he died, Arizona Daily Independent has confirmed.
According to social media postings by Kenny Ray Gamble Jr., his son Kenny Gamble II was not breathing when paramedics arrived at a local residence Wednesday. Additional testing at a hospital “found no sign of blood flow going through his brain and no brain activity whatsoever,” Gamble noted.
The father’s posting indicates medical personnel planned to keep the toddler on life support for an unspecified amount of time to allow for organ donation.
“With this tragedy something good did come because he is able to save many peoples’ lives with his organs which is what he would (have) wanted,” his father posted Sunday. “I don’t think that he anticipated being a hero at the age of 2.”
While Det. Paul Youman looks into the circumstances that sent the Gamble boy to the hospital, he is also preparing for the trial of Melanie Hope Petersen, who was arrested in March after her 21-month-old was found with eight bone fractures in various stages of healing.
Petersen, 25, has been indicted on multiple felonies after coming under investigation when a healthcare provider notified police about the child’s multiple injuries. She is being held in the Cochise County jail in lieu of $75,000 bail and is scheduled to be back in court June 15 for a pretrial conference.
Updates of the child’s condition have not been disclosed in the criminal case but the Arizona Department of Child Services (DCS) has initiated dependency proceedings which could restrict or terminate Petersen’s parental rights. In the meantime, the judge in the criminal case issued an order allowing Petersen to have supervised telephonic or video visitation with the child if the judge in the dependency case chooses to permit such contact.
Also in March, a Cochise County Superior Court judge issued a nationwide, no-bond warrant for the mother Emilio Sith, the Douglas toddler who died in January after being beaten.
Erika A. Parra, 21, became the subject of the warrant after failed to appear in court for arraignment on child abuse charges. Court records show Emilio “had signs of physical trauma including multiple bruises in various stages of hearing” when found unresponsive on Jan. 5 while in the care of Mario Alberto Toscano Jr., Parra’s boyfriend.
The boy died several days later at a Tucson hospital.
Toscano, 21, is charged with first-degree murder. He is being held in a jail outside Cochise County due to concerns for his safety.
DCS took custody of another child who lived with Parra and Toscano. Anyone with information about Parra’s whereabouts is asked to call the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office at 520-432-9502.