Family Is Questioned in Death of Toddler

Investigators continued to question the parents of a dead 2-year-old boy and scour the family’s home after an autopsy failed to reveal what killed the toddler, whose body was discovered Tuesday in heavy brush about half a mile from the residence.

Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Ron Wilkerson said his department is treating the death of Cecil “C.T.” Turner as a homicide, although “we cannot at this time say conclusively that he was murdered.”

The toddler, who was wearing only a diaper when he disappeared, was found at the bottom of a steep ravine and across a creek--a trek that investigators said a 2-year-old could not have made alone.

Only the toddler’s mother, Edith Marie Wu, 30, and stepfather, Feilong Wu, 26, have “been brought in for questioning,” Wilkerson said. Neighbors and acquaintances of the family are being interviewed. Investigators said none of those questioned have been ruled out as a suspect.

Wilkerson said the parents “have been completely cooperative throughout the process.” They were sent home about 10 p.m. Tuesday by investigators and instructed to stay in the area, Wilkerson said.

“They are certainly not under arrest,” he said.

Late Tuesday, investigators brought in bloodhounds to help search the family’s Via Florecer apartment, continuing well into the night, Wilkerson said.

The apartment “was being searched as a possible crime scene,” Wilkerson said. He would not elaborate on anything found during the search.

The blue-eyed toddler disappeared from his family’s apartment early Monday and was found partially buried in debris Tuesday afternoon by two El Toro Marines, Lance Cpls. Coy Lee Busbea, 20, and Hector L. Martinez, 25.

Authorities had to use chain saws to clear the heavy brush and retrieve the body from a six-foot hollow about six feet from Oso Creek.

Coroner’s investigators Wednesday had not determined what time the child died and are conducting extensive toxicology tests. Results are not expected for weeks.

Edith Marie Wu said Monday that she discovered C.T. missing when she was awakened by her 4-year-old daughter and found the front door ajar. She and her husband, who saw the boy just before a morning run, surmised the toddler had wandered away.

Wilkerson said Wednesday it was highly unlikely that a 2-year-old could have navigated the 76-step staircase leading down to the creek and ended up across the water from his home.

“It doesn’t seem like that could happen,” he said.

Toma Nott, 41, who stayed with Edith Wu during the search Monday, said C.T. had been afraid of the steep staircase. The family went for a walk recently and as they approached the stairs, C.T. started crying, she said.

“He didn’t want to go down stairs,” Nott said Wednesday. “The father had to carry him down.”

On Wednesday, a weary-looking Edith Marie and Feilong Wu arrived back at their apartment complex, which only a day earlier had been the hub of a hopeful search by scores of volunteers.

This time the couple tried to avoid the media cameras and reporters. “We’re not speaking to anyone,” Edith Wu said before shutting the door of their apartment.

Edith Wu, who is pregnant, followed her husband to Mission Viejo three weeks ago from Austin, Texas, leaving behind C.T.’s doting maternal grandparents.

Wednesday, their grandson’s death weighed heavily on Cecil and Carolyn Morrow, who often cared for the boy and his sister in Austin.

“I’m 61. I’ve been through wars and almost-wars and knocked around, and I’ve never hurt like this,” said Cecil Morrow, a retired attorney whom C.T. was named after.

Morrow said he and his 58-year-old wife baby-sat the children while their only child, Edith Marie, studied to become a teacher.

Morrow, who is ill and unable to travel to California, said he spoke to his daughter Wednesday afternoon. “She’s grieving like I am,” he said.

The Morrows have custody of Sterling, 10, their daughter’s elder child.

Morrow said the investigation has been hard on his daughter and her new husband and he believes investigators are focusing on Feilong Wu.

“They kept him in there for three days without an attorney,” Morrow said. “The police haven’t told him that they’re questioning him as a prime suspect . . . but it seems like it.”

But Morrow continually stressed that he believed his son-in-law played no part in C.T.’s death.

“I don’t think Feilong did it,” he said. “I don’t think he did it.”

When she lived in Texas, Edith Wu had numerous encounters with local police, one of them involving the temporary disappearance of her son Sterling, according to police records and local authorities.

In 1988, Edith Wu, whose surname was Morrow at the time, told police that Sterling was missing after an acquaintance failed to bring the boy to a local lake, according to a Williamson County Sheriff’s Department report.

Hours later, the acquaintance returned with the boy, the report said. It is unclear what happened to the boy during the hours he was missing, a sheriff’s department spokesperson said.

Officials said the 5-foot, 4-inch woman is well-known around Austin.

“She’s been arrested a lot,” said Williamson County Sheriff’s Sgt. Terry Dees, who first met Wu six years ago when she was working at a Whataburger. Her arrest records list her by a half-dozen variations of her first two names and three different surnames.

Dees said Edith Wu, Feilong Wu and another man are suspects in a December 1995 residential burglary in Round Rock, Texas. During the burglary, the homeowner was “beat up pretty bad,” Dees said. Nothing was taken, he said. No arrests have been made in the case.

Carolyn Morrow, Edith Wu’s mother, said Wednesday that she had no knowledge of the burglary investigation.

Edith Wu pleaded guilty to the felony of writing “hot checks” in excess of $750 in November 1994, and is serving four years probation, according Rick Zinsmeyer, director of community supervision and corrections for Williamson County. She has notified the department of her move to California, he said.

She was fined $1,000 and ordered to pay court costs and restitution, which she still owes, according to Williamson County district attorney’s office records.

Wilkerson said Wednesday that investigators have been in contact with authorities in Texas and are aware of the couple’s history. But he said the inquiries were made as part of a routine background check on the parents.

He said investigators are looking into every aspect of the family’s life and every potential lead as a natural part of the homicide investigation.

While the sheriff’s probe of C.T.’s death continued, the loss of the boy brought mourners to the hot, dusty creek bed Wednesday.

Many left bouquets of flowers and stuffed animals near the ravine where his body was found. At the entrance of the family’s apartment near Via Florecer and Marguerite Parkway, residents and volunteers crafted a shrine of balloons and sympathy notes.

Michelle Valdez, 22, carrying her 7-week-old son, had helped search for the boy. “I just can’t believe that this happened,” she said as tears slid down her face in the heat.

Orange County sheriff’s officials asked anyone who may have seen the toddler early Monday in the area of Oso Creek between Jeronimo and La Paz roads to call 714-647-7055, or 714-834-7370 after hours.

Times staff writer Len Hall contributed to this story.