Jul 12, 2009 7:27 pm US/Central
Dallas Mom Upset With Ruling In Child's Death
DALLAS (CBS 11 / TXA 21) ―
A distraught Dallas mother insists her 4-year-old son was kidnapped and killed, not accidentally drowned during a pool party last night. Kyrin Austin's body was found after a 7-hour search in and around the Advenir apartments in Northeast Dallas.
Tijwankie Fuller says 'K. J.,' as he was called, was deathly afraid of the water. And that he wouldn't ride someone else's bicycle into a pool; yet that's exactly how police found him after an all-night search.
Fuller insists she was the one in the pool, cleaning up pool toys, and when she turned around her son was gone. After an hour of searching with family and friends, police were contacted. Even the Dallas police helicopter was called in. Six hours later search dogs led police to the boy's body and the bike.
Other residents helped in the search, including Traci Crawford, who says police later searched her home because her roommate's nephew was a playmate of K. J.'s.
Still other searchers told Fuller that they thought they saw K. J. with a stranger during the time he went missing, an adult male that was purportedly seen with him just down the street at a local fast food drive-thru. An angry Fuller says she's been treated as a suspect, not a victim's mother. And that the only information she was given was the medical examiner's phone number.
Sunday afternoon the medical examiner ruled K. J.'s death an accidental drowning.
Dallas police say there is no information available right now beyond what's in their service reports--words an angry mother is not going to accept.
Editor's note: Monday afternoon, Dallas police and Child Protective Services said the child's legal last name is Austin--not Fuller, which is how his mother identified him to us. We have updated this story to reflect this new information.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
