Police closed their investigation Tuesday into the death of 5-month-old Sasha Brown after the Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled she died in a dog attack, probably by her family’s two pets.
The baby was found dead and covered with dog bites in her parents’ South Side apartment Monday morning. She apparently had been mauled by the family dogs while her parents slept.
But police officials awaited the autopsy to determine whether the baby was killed by the dogs, a Rottweiler recently acquired by Sasha’s parents and a mixed-breed. Police also investigated whether her parents, Steven and Michelle Brown, were neglectful in the child’s death.
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Wentworth Area Detective Cmdr. Charles Smith said detectives closed their investigation without charging the parents after interviewing them and seeing the medical examiner’s ruling.
“The parents didn’t do it intentionally,” Smith said. “They’ve gone through a lot, and we decided it would serve no purpose to charge them. We’re satisfied at this time that it was an accidental death.”
The state Department of Children and Family Services had removed the couple’s three other children from their home Monday and placed them with an aunt, said department spokeswoman Martha Allen. The move was made because authorities were unsure what caused Sasha’s death, Allen said.
Despite the medical examiner’s ruling, the children will remain with their aunt until the department finishes its investigation, Allen said.
“If we determine there was neglect or abuse there . . . in that case we could take the children,” she said.
Smith said the Browns voluntarily spent Monday night at Wentworth Area headquarters and were very cooperative with the investigation. The parents were never considered suspects, he said.
Smith would not release the age of the parents, saying only that they were in the early 20s.
Smith said police were not sure when the attack on the child took place or whether it occurred at once or over several hours. He said the parents heard the child crying at 5:30 a.m. Monday, but whether Sasha had already been injured, they did not know.
Both of the family’s dogs attacked the child, police said. The smaller dog had the run of the house the whole night, and the Rottweiler was in and out of the house throughout the night, Smith said.
“They were distraught,” Smith said of the Browns, “just like any parents would be.”