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National News

Baby of homeless couple dies after they spend night in car

07:46 AM CST on Thursday, December 4, 2008

KING5.com

LAKEWOOD, Wash. -- Police are trying to figure out why a two-month-old girl died after she and her parents slept in a car in a relative's driveway.

Family members say the couple woke up in their car at around 6 a.m. Wednesday to find the baby, Jessica, dead. She was strapped into her car seat and bleeding from the nose and mouth.

Police say the family was parked in the driveway of the child’s aunt in the 700 block of Lake Louise Drive. The aunt says the couple was homeless and she was letting the mother and child stay in her home, but she would not let the father stay inside because he

Jessica and her mother would sleep in a spare room while the father would routinely sleep in the car. The aunt says Tuesday night, for some unknown reason, none of them came in the home. When they woke up, the baby was unresponsive.

The couple drove the baby to St. Claire Hospital where she was pronounced dead. The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office says there was no outward or obvious cause of death and no evidence of abuse.

The couple was questioned by investigators and released. Lakewood Police say they are not considered suspects in Jessica's death.

Police say the couple did run the car to keep warm overnight, but it’s unclear whether carbon monoxide contributed to the death. Blood samples are being sent to the state crime lab to see if there was anything in the baby’s system that could have killed her.