GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The Kent County Sheriff's Office is asking for the public's help in providing information related to the 2021 death of Leo Whitehead.
Investigators originally listed the two-month-old boy's cause of death as stemming from a para-influenza viral-type pneumonia. But Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young said at a news conference Monday that case is being investigated again, after his 27-year-old mother, Irene Whitehead, was charged last week in connection to the death of Whitehead's two-year-old daughter, Ryleigh.
She died in September from suffocation. The sheriff says similarities between the two deaths has prompted the new investigation into the little boy's death, as well.
"What will help with that investigation are any statements that Irene may have made to you," Sheriff LaJoye-Young said. "Any text messages. Maybe anything you saw that seemed inconsistent at the time, or not so important at the time."
Irene Whitehead is 27. She was charged with first-degree child abuse and first-degree murder in Ryleigh's death.
"During the course of our interview with Irene in the two-year-old's death, she made statements that she had, indeed, killed Leo as well," the sheriff said.
Police say Whitehead had allegedly launched some online GoFundMe accounts to raise money for her children's medical expenses.
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