Child’s Death Called ‘Suspicious’ 2-1/2-Year-Old Collapsed After Playing In Pool

Sheriff’s officials are not sure why a 2-1/2-year-old Kootenai County boy died Wednesday, but officials are calling his death suspicious.

Alexander Buss, son of Donald and Michelle Buss, died Wednesday at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

He was flown by helicopter to the Spokane hospital Tuesday after collapsing at a home on Lewellyn Creek Road near Athol, Idaho, said sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger.

Although original reports indicated the boy may have drowned, an autopsy turned up no obvious cause of death, Wolfinger said.

“Any time a young person dies where the cause of death is not obvious we have to consider it suspicious,” Wolfinger said.

Buss reportedly was playing in a small wading pool at the home near Athol, sheriff’s officials said.

The boy’s parents are in the process of a divorce, according to county court records, and neither was at the home at the time. The mother’s boyfriend was watching the boy, Wolfinger said. Several other youths also were at the Athol home playing in the wading pool.

After playing in the pool, the boy reportedly went into the house, collapsed on a bed and fell to the floor, Wolfinger said.

Michelle Buss’ boyfriend told deputies the toddler stopped breathing, Wolfinger said. The man, whose name has not been released, called 911. Emergency officials told him how to try to resuscitate the boy until paramedics arrived.

The boy was taken to the hospital, where he was listed in critical condition until he died late Wednesday.

Although no one has been arrested in connection with the boy’s death and no suspects have been named, sheriff’s officials still are conducting a “suspicious death investigation.”

Further tests are going to be conducted to try to determine the cause of death, Wolfinger said. Test results are not expected until next week.

, DataTimes