Child, 8, person of interest in baby’s daycare death, police say
MUSKEGON, Mich. (WOOD) – An 8-year-old is a person of interest in the death of a 1-year-old at a home day care, Muskegon Police Chief Jeffrey Lewis confirmed Monday.
“I personally have never dealt with a case like this in my entire career,” Lewis said.
Korey Brown’s mother, Bryanna Reasonover, said her baby was found dead Friday morning at Keysha Keepers home day care located in the 700 block of Catherine Avenue in Muskegon.
Reasonover told WOOD she dropped off four children at the day care Thursday night and went to pick them up after work the next morning.
“One of the ladies who worked at the daycare was like, ‘Oh, Korey is knocked out. I changed his diaper. He didn’t even wake up,’” Reasonover recalled on Monday.
Korey was in a Pack ‘n Play. Reasonover said that the way he was lying left one side of his face covered.
“When I pick him up, his face tilts over and I’m like, ‘What’s all this on my baby’s face? What’s wrong with his face?’” she said.
She said there were bruises and bite marks on his face, finger and stomach and that his head was swollen.
“I’m like, ‘Korey, you know, wake up,’” she said. “I’m like, ‘My baby, he’s not waking up.’”
She said that’s when everyone panicked and called 911. Paramedics tried CPR, but it was too late.
“When I got to the hospital they told me Korey had already been dead for an hour,” Reasonover said.
It remains unclear what happened to the infant. Reasonover said an autopsy was scheduled to determine how he died.
“I don’t want to say she knew,” she added, referring to the day care provider. “I don’t know what anybody knows.”
The police chief said the investigation is difficult because the witnesses and person of interest are all children. He said the primary witness of Korey’s death is a 5-year-old child.
“We don’t normally have 5-year-olds as primary witnesses,” Lewis said.
He said Korey was left unsupervised for an unknown period of time.
Lewis said the 8-year-old person of interest in the death was taken for a mental health evaluation at Mercy Health Muskegon’s Hackley Campus. He said authorities are getting advice from doctors about the best placement for the child.
Reasonover told WOOD she had been taking her children to the home day care for about three weeks.
The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs told WOOD that Keysha Collins, the owner of Keysha Keepers, got her group child care license in November 2016. It is the first child care license she has had and there have not been any complaints against her. LARA said that an investigation is ongoing and no action has been taken against Collins’ license so far.
The daycare is closed until the investigation is complete.
Korey’s funeral will be held Friday in Muskegon; further details are not yet available. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the family cover expenses.