Detroit toddler found dead beneath pile of clothes in grandmother’s closet

Zyia Turner

Detroit toddler found dead beneath pile of clothes in grandmother’s closet
New York Daily NewsPhilip Caulfield
1 July 2012

Babysitting uncle arrested after 17-month-old is discovered after more than 12 hours missing.
Family initially feared the girl kidnapped. Autopsy results will take weeks.

Zyia Turner, 17 months, was missing for more than 12 hours before police dogs found her body in her grandmother's closet.

A baby girl in Detroit was discovered dead beneath a pile of clothes in her grandmother’s closet on Saturday morning, police said.

Police cadaver dogs found the body of 17-month-old Zyia Turner more than 12 hours after her family reported her missing.

The family called the death an accident.

An uncle who was baby-sitting Zyia and several other children, said the girl wandered away sometime around 3:30 p.m. Friday after while he was in another room, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Bridget Elam, the girl's grandmother, said she was doing some July 4th shopping when the uncle called and asked if she knew where the toddler was.

“What do you mean you can’t find her,” Elam told the uncle, according to the Free Press.

“The last I saw her, she was sitting on the dining room floor eating cereal. That’s when everything went to a panic.”

The girl's father, Emmanuel Turner, 25, rushed home from a local park and the family called police.

Authorities issued an amber alert throughout the city.

The girl's mother, Erica James, initially told news crews that she feared the girl had been kidnapped.

“I just, I just want my baby...I just wish whoever had her would bring her back," James said to local station WXYZ on Friday afternoon.

Footage of the house broadcast on WXYZ the next day showed piles of clothes, toys and furniture strewn across the bedroom and the closet where Zyia was found.

Nearly a dozen family members live at the home, according to local reports.

An autopsy was completed, but police were waiting to release the cause of death until after a toxicology screening, which could take weeks.

The uncle, who was not identified, was arrested, and the rest of the family was cooperating, cops said.

"This is an ongoing investigation and individuals are being questioned by the Detroit Police Department’s Homicide Investigators," police said in a release.

Elam told WXYZ she suspected the girl wandered into the closet and was smothered when some clothes fell on her.

“My grandkids… they’re blaming themselves, like we didn’t search the area,” she said. "But you can’t put that on you. It was a bad accident. It was a very bad accident that we just have to deal with.”

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Tragedy as police launch frantic search for missing girl

Zyia Turner

Tragedy as police launch frantic search for missing girl, one, before she is found dead hours later under LAUNDRY in chaotic home 
30 June 2012
MailOnline
Nina Golgowski

A search for a missing 17-month-old girl ended tragically Saturday morning after her body was recovered beneath a toppled pile of laundry inside her grandmother's closet.

The family of little Zyia Turner are calling her death an accident after cadaver dogs unearthed her body hours after an Amber Alert was issued throughout their Detroit community on Friday afternoon.

'We were hoping, just hoping someone had took her,' Ziya’s grandmother Bridget Elam told WXYZ behind tears.

'We never thought she was in the house right up under our nose. It didn’t cross our minds.'

It was in a dishevelled bedroom of Ms Elam’s home, seen on camera packed with thrown clothes and other variously sprawled items, that her granddaughter was found by police.

Her uncle watching her at the time, as well as several other children, told police he suspected she had wandered away.

Ms Elam says it was 3.46pm when she got the phone call from her son, whose name has not been released, asking if she knew where Zyia was.

'What do you mean you can't find her?' Ms Elam recalled asking to the Detroit Free Press.

The uncle told police he temporarily left the children alone to go to his bedroom before returning to find Zyia missing.

He reported the other children saying they hadn’t seen where she could have gone.

'The last I saw her, she was sitting on the dining room floor eating cereal. That's when everything went to a panic,' Ms Elam recalled.

The girl's father, 25-year-old Emmanuel Turner, said he rushed straight to the house to help their search efforts.

Worried the girl had left the property, the family made and distributed fliers throughout their neighbourhood after calling police and issuing an Amber Alert.

Receiving the tragic news early Saturday morning, for Ms Elam, the hardest part she says is now knowing that the toddler was in her house the entire time.

'My grandkids... they’re blaming themselves, like we didn’t search the area,' she told WXYZ. 'But you can’t put that on you. It was a bad accident. It was a very bad accident that we just have to deal with.'

While police said the family had been fully cooperating in the investigation the girl's uncle has been placed under arrest.

The child's cause of death has not been released while an autopsy has been completed while pending a toxicology screening.

The case remains under investigation and Detroit police homicide investigators are still questioning those involved.

The youngest of three, Zyia had a two and six-year-old brother.

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Death of 17-month-old Zyia Turner leaves family reeling

Zyia Turner

Death of 17-month-old Zyia Turner leaves family reeling
30 June 2012
Detroit Free Press
By Megha Satyanarayana and Eric D. Lawrence

Emmanuel Turner was at Belle Isle Friday afternoon when he got word that his daughter, 17-month-old Zyia Turner, was missing from their home in Detroit.

“I came straight home. I walked around looking,” Turner, 25, said Saturday from the house on the 18800 block of Brinker. “I just can’t stop thinking about my baby being gone.”

The toddler’s body was found Saturday in a closet in the home, Emmanuel Turner said. A police cadaver dog from the Southfield Police Department located her Saturday morning, according to a news release from the Detroit Police Department.

The cause of death has not been released.

Emmanuel Turner said his brother was watching Zyia and several other children Friday when he left the room to go to his bedroom.

When he returned, Zyia was gone, the uncle told police.

Bridget Elam, the girl’s grandmother, said she had gone shopping for the 4th of July when her phone rang at 3:46 p.m. It was her son, Emmanuel Turner’s brother, asking if she knew where Zyia was.

They called police soon after, and made flyers to distribute with pictures of the missing girl.

“What do you mean you can’t find her,” Elam said she recalled saying.

“The last I saw her, she was sitting on the dining room floor eating cereal. That’s when everything went to a panic.”

Zyia’s autopsy has been completed, according to the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office Saturday, but the results are pending the toxicology screen, which could take six to eight weeks.

The Detroit police news release did not indicate why it took so many hours after the girl initially was reported missing to locate her body inside the house. Police did not return calls for comment.

“This is an ongoing investigation and individuals are being questioned by the Detroit Police Department’s Homicide Investigators. No additional information is (being) released at this time,” the release said.

Maria Miller, spokeswoman for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, said her office had not received a warrant request and had no additional information from police.

Turner said he was hoping that the cadaver dog would come up empty and, since, has had little to eat or sleep. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Zyia’s mother’s family. Zyia’s mother could not be immediately reached for comment.

“All this brings to my family is a sadness that will be here a long time,” Emmanuel Turner said.

Zyia also leaves behind a 2-year-old brother, Emmanuel Turner Jr. and a 6-year-old brother.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at (313) 596-2260.

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