Coroner: Baby Justice May Have Died Of Hypothermia, Drowning; No Obvious Injuries Found
KNIGHTS LANDING (CBS13) — An autopsy conducted on a baby boy found in a Knights Landing slough has not revealed a cause of death, but hypothermia or drowning are possibilities, the Yolo County Sheriff's Department said on Thursday.
Full results of the autopsy are expected to take several weeks.
No obvious physical injuries or signs of abuse were found on 20-day-old Justice Rees, and the baby appeared to be in good health. The date and time of Rees' death aren't known, but it's likely he died before the search was started on Tuesday night.
Sheriff Ed Prieto said on Thursday that Rees and his mother, 23-year-old Samantha Green, were the only people in the vehicle that traveled out to the slough. No other people have been connected to the scene.
The boy was found dead on Wednesday morning two days after he and his mother went missing. Green was found by a neighbor near the slough on Tuesday night. She reportedly told him she had spent all night in the slough and that Rees had died.
A vigil was held on Wednesday night. No one from the baby's family was there, but a relative says the boy's mother and father spent several hours down at police headquarters talking to investigators.
