KEY POINTS
- Investigators are still trying to identify the deceased child
- A local mushroom hunter found the body in a suitcase last month
- Cops said the boy may be from a different state or even another country
Washington County -- The body of an unidentified child, found inside a suitcase in southern Indiana, died from “electrolyte imbalance,” as per a press release.
Details of who put the child’s body in a suitcase and how it wound up in the woods remain a mystery.
“The report also states the imbalance was likely from ‘a viral gastroenteritis’ and says the blood toxicology was “negative,’” the statement shared Friday read.
Indiana State Police believe the boy was around five years old at the time of his death. The autopsy revealed that he did not suffer traumatic injuries, according to Yahoo News Australia.
The child was “clothed and clean” when found in the hard shell suitcase, which read “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas.”
A local mushroom hunter found the suitcase in a heavily wooded area of Washington County on April 16. The nearest road is about 80 feet from the spot where the suitcase was found.
“Although numerous tips have been called into the nationwide tip line, detectives have not been able to identify the boy,” the Friday statement said.
Investigators said the boy may be from another state or even another country. “The unidentified child is described as a young, black male, approximately five years old. The child is approximately four feet tall and has a slim build and a short haircut,” the statement added.
Indiana State Police Sgt. Carey Huls spoke at a press conference to announce the results of the autopsy. Huls noted that police are not disclosing the description of the boy’s clothes so that the number of incorrect tips can be cut down.
"Somebody knows something,” Huls said, according to USA TODAY.
"He didn't put himself in that suitcase. Somebody did," Huls went on to say. "Somebody out there has firsthand knowledge on what happened in the situation ... and we need that person to come forward."
Huls also said the boy’s description did not match the kids currently on the national missing children's list. Although the police department has worked on other cases involving missing children, he said this case is "different."
"This isn't a missing children's case where we have a child that we know exists," Huls went on to say. "We have a child we know nothing about ... and nobody wants to come forward and say, 'I know this child, this is my child' or 'I know how this child got there.'"
The child will be laid to rest at Crown Hill Cemetery after a funeral service at Weathers Funeral Home in Salem at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
The funeral service, planned by the Washington County Sheriff's Department, received multiple donations.
"This little boy wasn't respected in life and we, Washington County, want to make sure he's respected in death," said Todd Murphy, the department's chaplain.
Representative image Photo: Credit: Pixabay / BroMusadeq
