El Cajon
Police are investigating the circumstance surrounding the death of a 2 1/2-year-old boy.
The body of Christopher James Swanson was found at 4:45 p.m. Tuesday in a bed at the Ha’Penny Inn, 1549 Main St., by someone visiting the child’s parents, said Lt. Bob Lein of the El Cajon Police Department.
Police said the parents, George Christopher Swanson and Marilyn Galloway, both 34, were living at the motel.
The child was believed to have been dead for at least an hour before authorities were called, Lein said. “It was our understanding,” he said, “that nobody had checked on the baby since 10 a.m.”
A desk clerk at the inn said she believed the baby had been taken to a hospital the night before and was on medication.
Police questioned the parents but made no arrests. Lein said police will submit information regarding possible charges of child neglect to the district attorney’s office by early next week.
An autopsy is pending, but a spokesman for the coroner’s office said the baby appeared to have died of respiratory failure.
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