Police Question Slain Girl's Mother, Boyfriend

Autopsy indicated the cause of death as a subdural hematoma and assault

Police are questioning a slain toddler's mother and her boyfriend in the investigation related to the young girl's death.

According to the victim's family members, investigators have been speaking to the pair since Sunday night at police headquarters, and NBC 5 has learned that authorities are concerned about inconsistencies about what happened.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed Monday that a body found in a wooded area in south suburban Riverdale was the missing 19-month-old Chicago girl, Ameriah Roberson.

Roberson, of the 3500 block of South Rhodes Avenue in Chicago's South Side Douglas neighborhood, was reported missing at about 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

Her body was discovered about two hours earlier by someone walking in an area just west of 140th Court and Stewart Avenue in Riverdale, but the identity was not immediately known.

A Monday autopsy indicated the cause of death as a subdural hematoma and assault, and police termed the case a "death investigation.

The victim's grandmother, Bernadette Madison, says the girl's mother was at work and the toddler was being watched by her new boyfriend.

Police say he admits leaving the girl unattended in her car seat near 35th and Rhodes Avenue, and when he returned, she was gone.

"Who would do something to a defenseless baby?" Madison said. "If there was a problem, if there was crying, this individual has my number, you've been to my home on numerous occasions ... this did not have to be."

The South Suburban Major Crimes Task Force was investigating with Riverdale Police.

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