UPDATE: The Napa County Coroner says the infant died of Sudden Unexpected Infant Death and there is no evidence of wrongdoing.
NAPA (BCN)—The Napa County coroner’s office is still investigating the cause of an 8-month-old boy’s death at a day care home Wednesday.
The infant, identified as Marcus Marosi, was last seen alive when he was set down for a nap around 1:30 p.m., Napa County sheriff’s Capt. Steve Blower said.
The operator of the day care center called Napa police around 3 p.m. when the infant was found unresponsive and unconscious. Napa police, the Napa Fire Department and an ambulance responded. The coroner’s office arrived at 3:15 p.m. and pronounced the boy dead, Blower said.
Napa police said there were no obvious signs of trauma.
An autopsy was performed Friday and the results are pending toxicology tests, microscopic tissue analysis and other tests that could take several weeks, Blower said.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, SIDS, used to be commonly attributed as the cause of death of a sleeping infant, but no longer, Blower said.
“SIDS is not an actual cause of death. It has gone by the wayside, and we cringe when we hear it. It’s a term that came up to classify an unknown cause of death in infants up to a year old. It means nobody knows what the baby died of,” Blower said.
Infants can die from undiagnosed medical conditions, the flu or other illnesses, Blower said.
“All child deaths are treated as ‘suspicions,’ not that the death was suspicious, but we use that term to narrow it down. It’s not always obvious,” Blower said.
The infant’s parents, James Evans and Tisha Marosi, of Napa, did not report Marcus was ill at the time of his death, Blower said.
“He had consistent medical care and seemed to be thriving,” Blower said.