Report: Dead Child's Mother Once Tried To Smother Him
CORAL SPRINGS (CBS4) – The mother of a four-year old boy found dead in a Coral Springs apartment on Monday has been arrested on unrelated charges.
Four year old Antwan Hope was discovered after police received several 911 calls from inside the apartment.
"I was working and I can say on some of the calls she did not speak and hung up. We were able to track the calls and that's when we found the four year old deceased," said Lt. Joe McHugh of the Coral Springs Police Department.
Destene Simmons, 23, was arrested Monday and charged with driving with a suspended license. She appeared in bond court Tuesday morning and was given a $500 bond on the suspended license charge.
Simmons's family is not commenting on the incident. Several of her family members waited anxiously outside the Broward Detention Center and were disappointed when she was not released Tuesday evening.
Investigators are waiting on autopsy report which will determine if there was foul play involved in Antwan Hope's death. If the medical examiner's report indicates obvious signs of trauma, the police would immediately launch a homicide investigation and obtain a search warrant for Simmons' apartment.
On Tuesday morning, police tape sealed off the door to Simmons' apartment which was being guarded by an officer.
Police are calling Hope's death "suspicious."
Barbara Brunson, four-year-old Hope's great aunt from his father's side, said, "When they think about it, everyone is just crying."
According to Brunson, family members on the father's side of the boy have been concerned about Simmons's mental state ever since an incident that occurred a year ago when they said Simmons tried to harm the four year old.
"As far as her mental state, people don't pay attention to that until it's too late," said Brunson.
Last year Simmons, as reported by CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald, put a pillow over the boy's face and tried to suffocate him.
Simmons was committed under Florida's involuntary commitment law, the Baker Act, to a local psychiatric hospital, and Hope was placed in foster care, and then in the home of a maternal aunt.
The Department of Children & Families was eager to return the boy to his mother's custody. Hope's guardian-ad-litem objected to returning him to his mother's care. Broward Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer agreed with DCF and allowed Simmons to have unsupervised visits with her son in preparation for full-time custody.
Hope was returned to her last weekend for an unsupervised visit. He left the visit in a mortuary van.
Neighbor Jennifer Hill, whose son played with Simmon's son Antwon Hope, wants answers.
"He's crying, and it impacts him, like it does a lot of little kids in the neighborhood though. A lot of these kids are very hurt. Their friend is gone and nobody knows why. Nobody is giving us answers," said Hill.
CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed to this report.
