A 3-year-old boy in Milwaukee who was found suffering from multiple injuries died two days after being hospitalized, police said this week.
A law enforcement source close to the investigation told WITI the child’s body was found covered with human bite marks.
Officials said it appeared the boy, identified as Aiden Archer, also had head trauma.
No cause has been determined in the boy’s death, which was being investigated as a homicide, according to the Milwaukee Police Department.
Police were dispatched to the home close to South 54th Street and West Euclid Avenue on Monday night after receiving a report of a sick or injured person. Upon arrival, officers found Archer suffering from “numerous physical injuries,” according to a brief Police Department statement.
Police said the child was transported to the hospital for treatment. He died at the hospital Wednesday.
The child’s mother, a 24-year-old woman, and the mother’s boyfriend, a 27-year-old man, were in custody, police said.
Police planned to present charges to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office in the coming days.
Neighbors who live near the home where the boy was found said the neighborhood cares deeply about the incident.
“If I would have known anything was even close to being out of line, I would have called somebody,” one neighbor said. “We take care of our homes. We take care of our families. We watch out for each other.”
Neighbors said the mother and her boyfriend moved into the area not too long ago, staying in a home rented by an older woman.
They knew the woman who rented out the home as Jackie and her adult son as Josh. It is believed they took in the young mother, her 3-year-old child and her boyfriend.
Josh ran over to neighbor Lyle Seiben’s house to call 911 on the night the toddler was hospitalized.
“911 asked him, ‘What’s going on?’ He said, ‘The little one banged his head.’ He says, ‘I went outside and came back in. The little one banged his head and now he’s not breathing,'” Seiben recalled. “So I dialed 911 quick.”
The two men flagged down first responders, Seiben said.
“We’re angry. We’re not having it. We don’t want this in our neighborhood. I hope I never have to live through this again. It’s sad. It’s wrong. I hope whoever is responsible is brought to justice,” another neighbor said.
An autopsy on the little boy was expected Thursday or Friday.
KTLA’s Melissa Pamer contributed to this article.