Crime & Courts

Infant who died at Anchorage hospital was victim of homicide, medical examiner says

Anchorage police say an infant boy who died earlier this year at Alaska Regional Hospital was the victim of a homicide, according to medical examiner findings.

Police learned of the death at 3:55 p.m. Aug. 30. The 1-year-old was in the emergency room with his parents. Initially, investigators labeled the cause of death to be “undetermined,” according to an Anchorage police alert. But the medical examiner has now determined that trauma to the child’s body caused his death and police are investigating the case as a homicide.

Police did not say who they believe is responsible for the death. The alert made no mention of arrests or pending charges.

“Detectives have questioned several people and are not looking for any suspects at this time,” the alert says. “This is an isolated incident.”

Asked if police have determined who is responsible and if charges are pending, APD spokeswoman Renee Oistad wrote, “No charges have been filed at this time, therefore we will not be releasing any more information right now. Should charges be filed in this case, a Nixle (community message) will be put out.”

Kyle Hopkins

Kyle Hopkins is special projects editor of the Anchorage Daily News. He was the lead reporter on the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Lawless" project and is part of an ongoing collaboration between the ADN and ProPublica's Local Reporting Network. He joined the ADN in 2004 and was also an editor and investigative reporter at KTUU-TV. Email khopkins@adn.com

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