This is murder and it's as plain as day.

What is really sad is that the man did not have the reasoning skills to figure it out in time. Having raised a child and lots of pets, I always keep closets in mind as potential traps. Where did he think a 17 mo old would go in a few minutes that none of the other children would have noticed? I know hindsight and all, but these adults are going to have a hard time living with this, I would imagine.

I cannot and will never accept that this is an accident. It is the parent's responsibility to "baby proof" the house and to actually have somebody watching the child full time. I am a mother of 2 young boys and I KNOW where they are every minute/every second. I become really anxious and paranoid the moment they leave my eyesight. It takes a lot of time for a 17 month old baby to open a closet (if the child can even reach it), climb into it (if the child can even reach it) and make a mess to become buried under it. In times of despair, I would expect a young child to cry and scream at the top of his/her lungs...so you're telling me nobody heard this child scream?

It doesn't seem likely that all of that stuff would have fallen on top of her. Most closet shelves don't hold a whole lot and so there wouldn't be enough material to trap her, never mind suffocate her!

Living in a house with 12 other people I can understand why it took so long to locate her, and I can also understand how her uncle may have lost sight of her with so many other children around. But something happened to her, and it smells fishy.

Hopefully the coroner will be able to tell if she shows signs of struggle or defensive bruising if, God forbid, it was a family member that did this and then tried to hide her under all that junk!

Chloe18:

I am very surprised and impressed that you know where your children are every second of every day. I have a 20 month old brother, and even with three people over the age of 19 watching him (myself and my parents) we still lose track of him at times. It has gotten to the point that we lock the dead bolts on both doors because he can turn the knobs easily, and recently he can even turn those.

There have been times that I have gotten him down from his highchair, walked 10 feet to the kitchen sink to get a rag to clean up him and the chair, and before I could return he's already gone the 15 feet to the front door, opened it, and is halfway down the porch (about an additional 10 feet).

In short, I have no problem believing that perfectly attentive parents/guardians could have let the child out of their sight and she to have vanished.

As to not hearing the child screaming, maybe she didn't or couldn't scream. 20 pounds is a lot of weight for a child that small, especially when it comes straight down on to her. Lets assume an average weight of 24 pounds for a girl that old; the 20 pounds of stuff that she was found under would be 83.33% of her body weight; Could you scream loudly if something 83.3% of your weight was sitting on your head?

Please think what you are going to post all the way through before you post in the future; this family is already going through hell; I cannot imagine the pain I would feel if my brother died suddenly.

Chloe18

I also raised two boys 2 yrs apart, and unless you are the Supermom of Superman, can you keep your eyes on them every minute/second. My oldest when he was just barely 2 was determined to get out side. Not tall enough to open the LOCKED screen door he figured out how to manipulate the lock mechanism from underneath the handle and made his way out, needless to say the moment of sheer terror is well remembered. Had to make a homemade childproof lock to keep this kid inside. Never underestimate the ingenuity of a child, especially when they become mobile.

Just a very sad story.

Let's see. A 17 month old toddler was able to get to a closet, open it, go inside, close it, and then pull a bunch of clothing down on top of itself and nobody noticed.

I have a real problem accepting this lame story. Twenty pounds of clothing is a considerable amount of weight but considering that this weight was falling and has a tendency to spread as it falls it wouldn't be concentrated on just the toddler. Also, despite how old or young the person is, there is a natural instinct to fight for life so I would suspect that this child would have been able to move enough clothing to be able to breathe even if it were unable to completely uncover itself. This isn't like an avalanche.

...three people over the age of 19 watching him (myself and my parents) we still lose track of him at times.

"watching him" and "left in the care of" are not synonymous terms. If you were truly watching him, you wouldn't lose track of him.

Yeah, your kids are going to make some real fine adults if they grow up with your mouth, That's What's Up. All three are under the age of 7 and they already don't stand a chance with a parent like you.

Happy I'm not the only one to reply to Chloe. Here's (just one!) of my stories. One day I was shocked to see my naked except for a diaper 1 1/2 year old in the front yard of my house. Not only did I leave him napping in his crib in his closed-door room, but his bedroom faced a fully (six foot) fenced back yard.

He had managed to climb out of his crib and climb UP out of the cracked open back window - but not after somehow removing the screen, which I found on the ground. The string to open the side gate of the fenced yard was at about five foot height. I think he must have climbed with his toes on the bottom support beam to the otherwise flush wooden gate to reach the string.

Our family could just have easily made headlines if he was struck dead by a car since our front yard was not fenced! Not until I became a parent myself did I understand the *supposedly* child neglect stories. How a mother of young ones herself doesn't is beyond me.

As far as the closet naysayers, interestingly enough, I just last week became righteously indignant at and really scolded my 15 year old because of the wrinkled state of his dress clothes, especially after I found all of his good clothes in a big heavy pile on the floor of his closet. I had to eat crow when he told me to look up. The wooden hanging bar had detached and broken off. He said he told me last week and I apparently didn't hear him. I believe him. I'm currently distracted by far more pressing matters than closet rods.

"Seemingly" more pressing matters, in the case of this story. The child in the story could have been a victim of abuse or neglect. I would like to see more facts before jumping to that conclusion, however.

Anyone that says they know where their child(ren) is at all times and never takes their eyes off of them are either lying, delusional or on drugs.

Nothing more annoying than a bunch of holier-than-thou parents making a tragic situation even worse. Newsflash: it is pure LUCK that nothing has ever happened to your children under your vigilant watch: accidents happen all the time. God forbid if something would ever happen to your children and you have to deal with monsters like you on top of all your guilt.

I don't always know where my kids are,but I do know they are safe in my home. They make baby proofing stuff for things like this. I have alarms on all the doors and windows,so if one of my kids tried to leave I would know. We lock our bedroom door during the day, because we have items in our rooms that could hurt them. It's common sense really. I would also go looking for my child if I didn't hear from him in a timely manner. Tragic or not this shouldn't have happened.

Chloe18, you are correct. This is Murder One.

That's What's Up -.....I'm sorry your kids have you as a parent.

Chloe18 so what you NEVER go to the bathroom, take a shower, get dressed? My now 22 year old son, and now 18 year old daughter, yes, when they took naps I took my shower and got dressed, or I got up early to do it, but I would still find one or both out of their rooms and in the kitchen, or living room, or somewhere other then there beds, My son at age 1 1/2 was able to climb out of his crib......so for you to know every second where they are, that is just either a fantasy, or you are the most OVER PROTECTIVE parent on the planet.

Now a older child cold of opened the closet door to get something and left it opened, and the pile of clothes unsteady, the toddler could of wandered in and the pile fell on her, if it was a high shelf the weight and the speed of it falling would of killed her when it hit her head, and if not right away then soon afterwords for her not be able to breath in the mean time the older child or another child could of shut the closet door again.

Oh go away?! Anyone with a brain reading this story sees this situation as horrible. I just said out loud what many (including myself) are hoping is not the truth. To many times we see families blaming accidents when foul play is involved.

The family has like 12 people living there and no one knows where the baby is at? Living like that has to be disgusting.

She could have easily been killed by crap falling on her in a closet...it doesn't take much to dislodge a huge pile of stuff.

Any normal parent would have turned the house upside down, especially closets and cabinets.

I'm interested to hear what the "holes in the story" are. None of it really sounds that suspicious to me.

The hole in the story is what Sheila pointed out.....anyone else would have turned that house inside out. Especially for a toddler due to their small size. That part is puzzling to me.

Agreed Mike. How can a child open a closet? Can a 17 month old even reach it? If it was left open, why? I mean you baby proof everything when you have young kids in the house. Nobody bothered to look for the child? I would freak out if I don't see my child for a couple minutes. Also, I would assume that the child would have screamed and yelled due to fear, so nobody heard that too? I point the finger at the parents for not preventing this (baby proofing) and not doing a good job "watching" over the young child. I am a parent of 2 young boys and yes I know what I am talking about.

We keep the doors to the house locked here, as the resident 17mo old is tall for her age, VERY bright and VERY busy, and QUITE capable of turning knobs. Even the sliding closet doors have to be latched now. In this case, whether the closet was over full or not, it does not require much weight to trap and suffocate a child who might grow tired from struggling to get loose. My own inference here is that this home had the type of closets Without any door at all. The mother is quoted as saying that she has two closets, and the baby 'never went in' to either, and 'never pulled' anything down. To me that invokes a vision of the 'closet' being a corner-cut enclave with bar and shelf. The true question is why the search ever left the house at all. All the way up until my youngest was...well, all the way until Now...when I don't see her for a while, and haven't been informed that she is going out of the house, I look IN the house FIRST when she doesn't answer right away. Often finding her asleep somewhere. How sad for this family that a bit of commonsense S.O.P. wasn't followed first.

... VERY bright and VERY busy, and QUITE capable of turning knobs...

LP - Yeah, everyone thinks that her child is the next Einstein, when in actuality, most are merely average.

For Scales67 - the child I speak of is not, in fact, my own. Thus I have no reason to 'boast' on her intelligence. The point I was making was in answer to those who asked if a 17mo old could even open a door knob, and agreement to how incredibly resourceful toddlers are. Thanks. ¬_¬

The police need to grill the other kids....and the uncle.

You don't have to pull anything. It doesn't take much for a precarious pile of stuff to tip over.

She certainly could have pulled on something that was unsuitable and holding the rest of it up, or the pile itself could have been knocked over with the door on the closet door shutting; I've had stuff fall of my shelves in the middle of the night when a breeze blows in through my open window.

fed-up - So you have piles of $h!t stacked on the shelves and it blows over from a slight breeze and you still haven't learned to stack it better or smaller piles or close the closet door?

I once had at least 75 lbs of clothes come down along with the closet rod, in the middle of the night. Old house, tiny closet, too many clothes on the rod. No piles of junk. Only gravity. Just far too many clothes packed hanging on the rod. With 12 people living in a home, I can see how too many clothes could be hanging on a rod. I can also see that happening with a toddler simply pulling on a sleeve and starting the whole thing falling.

What's even more disgusting is that there are actually people like you who thinks everyone should live like you are is even able to live like you. Not everyone has a big house with a white picket fence and only has 2.3 kids, that can afford professional day care.

It doesn't cost a thing to be vigilant when watching children. The smaller the house, the easier it should have been. If the house is so messy that a pile of clothes big enough to hide a child didn't raise an alarm, I have to believe BarbaraB is exactly right.

And if you don't have a decent home, don't have a kid! I am sick of people who have sex with no consideration of the consequences. Condoms don't cost very much, and you don't have to be a genius to use one. I hope the parents are charged with child neglect.

thepunisher:: Your snooty comment was entirely uncalled for. Not everybody is as inconsiderate as you hold yourself out to be. Just because someone isn't as snooty as you must be doesn't mean that they don't live right. Maybe BarbaraB isn't white trash like you.

And homesick yank:: Someone the type you hold yourself out to be shouldn't have a kid. I have known people who don't live in a fancy home who have kids and know how to raise them. Evidently your parents didn't know how to raise a human being to be respectable. And people like you, living in a shotgun shack, shouldn't have a kid.

Susie - Which are you - the pot or the kettle?

I am always surprised by people. On the one hand you have the people who want to be crunchy and live this all natural life, getting back to their roots and creating first world problems that need to be solved. Then when people are living 12 in small house as used to be the norm when people were living back in the natural life roots, they shouldn't have children. We really send mixed messages.

Some people love to live like pigs.

I am also suspicious it could have been one of the other kids one way or another. I can see two scenarios that would fit pretty well. One of the children was playing a game with the 17 month old and put her in the closet under the clothes to hide, the game ended and the kid forgot about the baby and panicked when things hit the fan. When everyone is looking frantically, a person could easily detract you from looking in the very place the child is located out of fear if you think everyone is looking. Also, one of the children did it on purpose and used the same tactic to keep people away from the closet. Like saying they looked there or someone else is looking there.

Would it be better if her name was Sarah Sue? It is sad that you would pass that kind of judgement!

"Because of the girls name"

You must have been sheltered growing up.

Sam, it's sad, I'll bet those who are deriding you are the same ones who want to deny the mother (whose last name is different from the victims) access to birth control.

...deny the mother ... access to birth control

Hell no! Encourage mom and dads fathers the use of birth control.

They don't want to deny them access to birth control, they just don't want to have to pay for it for them.

What notebooks?

I'm guessing the closets were SERIOUSLY overloaded, with only 2 closets in a home where 10 - 12 people were living...heck, I need 3 closets myself.

rkaralius, the reference to 'two closets' was the child's mother talking about her home.

Zyia’s mother, Erica James, 24, told the Detroit Free Press she had no idea how her daughter got stuck in a closet.

“I [have] two closets at home and she never went in,” she said. “She never pulled [anything] down out of the closet, so it’s strange that my baby is in the closet under 20 pounds of clothes.”

It didn't say that the grandmother's house (where the incident happened) only had two closets.

If she disappeared while everyone was home...

2unique72 - try actually reading the story. Everyone was not home when she disappeared. Her uncle and another adult were left in charge of the kids when the other adults were away. Jeez!

@scales67, really do you need to be so petty. I did read the story thank you very much. If I have to rephrase the sentence so you can comprehend it. Once EVERYONE was home & when the police officers were searching you would think they would have checked the house thoroughly within the time she went/was reported missing.

True there can be many scenarios to this sad incident. 20 lbs of clothes doesn't seem like much considering a large capacity washer holds over 15lbs. Yet the notebooks could have hit her in the head causing an injury. Just because 10 to 12 people live together, in Detroit, are African-American or have a cluttered closet doesn't mean that house was DISGUSTING. No one took in consideration that maybe family lived together for a reason. We don't know how big the house was. Good to see logical thinkers comment. For the ones that are quick to comment about race or politics you are amusing.

I'll agree with you on the killed part. But what makes you jump to molested? Maybe her and the other kids were playing hide and seek and an older child pulled that stuff onto her by accident and doesn't want to get in trouble. I think that's more likely than a child intentionally killing a family member.

Whatever the situation, it's sad.

Steve, you must be the expert on molested kids, right?

Come on guys, don't you ever read the news? Usually when a child is found dead and concealed in the home, it's a cover for another crime. Do you honestly think a loud crash of a child pulling a shelf full of stuff down would go unnoticed? The toddler was hidden under the stuff.

Ok, but what led you to be the crime being molestation, especially by another child?

How often do you hear about a child molesting another child and then killing him/her to cover it up?

It should be obvious if the child was hidden under the clothes or if the clothes fell in a natural manner. Although they probably didn't take the time to determine the state of the pile before they tore it apart to get the child out when the dog found her.

I think a hide-and-seek game gone bad is a likely explanation. An older kid could've put stuff on the toddler to make it harder to find her.

This is what I was thinking, Renee. The article doesn't tell us how many other children were in the house or what their ages were. Depending upon this, the kids could have been playing some kind of a game with the baby. No matter what happened, this is a terrible loss for the family.

Rest in peace child, you are in a better place.

A grave is a "better place?"

I don't think so.

Don't be an ass. Heaven is a better place than Detroit. Idiot! If you've never heard that expression then you need to come out from under that rock. Or pull your head out of your rear.

Loki,

nice christian way to call people names.

Christians are allowed to get mad at stupid people too. Patter123 was just trolling for a fight.

Plus chistians have done far worse than name calling, but I see your point.

They definitely need to rule out foul play, but the story doesn't sound as unlikely as some people make it seem.

Nowhere in the article does it say the closet door was closed.

Didn't say the door was closed. A lot depends on the specific details of how the stuff was stored in the closet, details that aren't included in the article. Sometimes it doesn't take much encouragement for a stack of stuff to shift and become unbalanced. And fabric isn't particularly noisy. The scenario described is feasible, if the person that looked in the closet didn't know that the pile of clothes wasn't there before they lost track of the child.

Closed or open makes no difference, if it was open there is a good chance things would have spilled out and the child is 1 and a half and unless she was disabled in some way she would have been able to remove some of what was on her. Guess we'll have to wait and see if the weight broke both her arms or legs or cracked her rib cage and punctured a lung. Until otherwise stated, this is fishy any way you swing it. I will say this most parents or babysitters would likely panic if a child in their care went missing and would open even dresser drawers and start flinging everything around like a crazy person to find their child/charge. Obviously I can't judge anyone in her family because some people just naturally don't panic but all will be revealed.

It is amazing how everyone thinks they are an expert. no one knows how much noise was going on. no one commenting knows what that closet looked like. kids do the unexspected. it is pure ignorance to think that accidents like this dont happen. the real problem here is why didnt the POLICE do a better search of the home, before they took to searching the streets? they are pro.'s at helping the general public but didnt think to check the closets first? and any of you without kids have NO room to judge or speculate.

Where did it say the closet was in the same room he left her in?