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Infant dies in 'suspicious death'

The 5-month-old girl "went to bed healthy" in a bedroom she shared with at least two teens, police said.

By KEVIN GRAHAM and JUSTIN GEORGE
Published August 2, 2005

TAMPA - A 5-month-old girl died early Tuesday morning in a bedroom she shared with at least two teens, Tampa police said.

Family members called 911 about 4 a.m. when they awoke to find Aniyah Whittington not breathing, police spokesman Joe Durkin said. The infant was dead when paramedics arrived.

"It's a suspicious death, but it is an unexplained death," Durkin said. "Why this child is deceased at 4 a.m. is the big unknown."

Durkin said Aniyah "went to bed healthy." The medical examiner's office will determine the cause of death.

"This may be a natural or accidental death," Durkin said. "Once the medical examiner gives us an exact cause of death, then we'll know which direction this investigation goes."

Detectives interviewed everyone who was home at 1319 W Main St., an apartment at North Boulevard Homes. Durkin said about 10 people were inside the 3-bedroom, two-story apartment, where Aniyah lived with her mother, Ashley Armstrong, 20, and grandmother, Wilma Armstrong, 58. Durkin said that both were at home when Aniyah died.

Family members at police headquarters declined to comment after detectives questioned them Tuesday morning. A woman who stayed behind at the apartment would only identify herself as the infant's aunt. She said Aniyah "was the sweetest little girl in the world" and called her death "just God's will." She closed the door and turned away to give a bottle to one of several toddlers inside the apartment crying.

Rose Glover, 49, lives next door to the family at North Boulevard Homes, which sits near downtown Tampa, just west of Interstate 275. She said the children who lived in the Armstrong house were well cared for.

"They're clean, they're sweet, they're respectable," Glover said. "They didn't want for nothing."

She said the children always call her Ms. Rose.

While it was unknown what caused Aniyah's death, the Florida Department of Children and Families said, there has been an unusual spike in infants who suffocated to death in the region this year when compared to the past three years.

So far, DCF has reports on six deaths in Hillsborough County, four in Pinellas, two in Manatee and one in Pasco.

Meanwhile, the Fetal Infant Mortality Review, a team of local medical, government, law enforcement, social service agencies and counseling officials, have studied 35 cases of fetal and infant deaths since January 2004 - a number of which were linked to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and suffocation.

"I don't know what to attribute that to," DCF spokesman Andy Ritter said. "But it's imperative that parents have children sleeping in a proper place."

Durkin wouldn't say for sure what the sleeping arrangements were for Aniyah. At first, police said she may have shared a bed with the two teens. Detectives were working Tuesday to try and figure out exactly who was sleeping where.

The Consumer Safety Product Commission recommended in fall 2004 that:

Do not put babies on water beds, sofas, soft mattresses or pillows.

Placing babies to sleep on their backs instead of their stomachs has been associated with a dramatic decrease in deaths from SIDS, according to the commission.

The Healthy Start Coalition of Hillsborough County Inc. recommended that parents who sleep with their babies should get proper education on the risks and safety measures needed.

Otherwise, officials said, babies should sleep alone in a safety approved crib or bassinet.

-- Times researcher Cathy Wos contributed to this story.

[Last modified August 2, 2005, 18:55:44]