A mother of a 1-year-old boy found dead in the family’s van apparently went to pick up her son from day care yesterday to find that she had never dropped him off there that morning.
The boy was then found dead in the woman’s van, where he had been left since the morning.
That’s what police put together in the death of the boy, identified Tuesday night as Tate Mitchell. Authorities were looking at heat as a possible cause of death.
Police said officers from the South County precinct were called to Casa Dia Montessori for a “sick case” about 5 p.m. Monday. Tate was enrolled at the school’s day care, at 610 Kinswood Lane in South County, near Interstate 255 and Telegraph Road.
But the boy was already unresponsive when he arrived there in his mother’s van at 4:55 p.m. Monday.
