Second Oahu infant dies of apparent abuse
An Ewa Beach boy suffers fatal injuries at home in the latest child homicide case
The Medical Examiner's Office said a 1-year-old Ewa Beach boy died yesterday of abusive head injuries, and classified his death as a homicide, two days after a similar baby death.
The Ewa Beach infant was identified as Dante Puni.
He is the second 1-year-old Oahu child to die this week from head injuries, with both deaths classified as murder.
A 1-year-old Nanakuli girl, Kamalani Inciong-Smith, died Monday from head injuries. An autopsy determined that the baby had been shaken and struck. The Nanakuli girl survived about a day after she was taken to the hospital. She had an old injury, a fractured collarbone, which had healed, but the medical examiner could not determine whether it had been inflicted.
The Ewa Beach infant was found unresponsive at 12:43 p.m. Monday at his home, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation was administered, police said. He was taken to a local hospital in critical condition, and died yesterday before 10:15 a.m.
The doctor who performed the autopsy did not specify whether the baby had been shaken, homicide Lt. Bill Kato said.
Homicide detectives were interviewing family members in both cases to determine who was with the children prior to their being hospitalized.
It could be difficult to pin down when the fatal head injuries occurred, Kato said.
Police did not have any suspects in the Puni case last night and were still interviewing family members, Kato said.
In the Inciong-Smith case, the mother's 26-year-old boyfriend, who was arrested but later released, is "still potentially a suspect but not as strong of a suspect as when he was first arrested," Kato said.