East Harlem Toddler's Death Ruled Homicide, Cops Seek Mother And Boyfriend For Questioning

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- In another disturbing case for the NYPD, the medical examiner ruled that the death of an East Harlem toddler was homicide.

The 3-year-old died last summer, and now with the cause of death, police are looking to question the boy's mother and her boyfriend.

As CBS2's Alice Gainer reported, witnesses said someone performed CPR on the boy on a bench outside the Jefferson Houses on First Ave.

"They was trying to resuscitate him and ran to the hospital," Anna said.

She said she remembered getting the call from her aunt who saw the boy in distress outside on August 5.

Caleb Rivera later died at the hospital.

On Friday, nearly 6 months later, his cause of death was announced.

"Blunt force trauma to the head and neck," Chief of Police James O'Neill said.

No one would answer the door at the mother's apartment, but a CBS2 News team said someone could be heard inside.

There were several people present when the boy's death occurred, police said.

"There were three people inside the apartment; two males and a female. The mother of the child and two other males, not biological fathers," O'Neill said. 

Police said the boy's 27-year-old mother Alexandra Gonzalez told them in August that she went out to the store to buy cigarettes and left the boy with her boyfriend of three weeks.

Two minutes later, she received a call that the child was choking and she needed to come home.

She returned home, grabbed the child and ran him out to the courtyard screaming.

Sources said the boy was in cardiac arrest at the hospital and that doctors found bruising on his body, facial injuries, and internal injuries including severe brain injury, trauma to the lungs, and blood around the heart.

Police said the boyfriend fled the scene, but when he was brought in for questioning he told police the cuts and bruising on the boy were because he fell out of a high chair.

Anna, like many other residents feels awful.

She said she always saw the boy in his stroller, out with his mother.

"You would never really notice the child was being mistreated, so when I found out about it, it really shocked me," she said.

Police are looking to question the mother and the boyfriend now that this has been ruled a homicide.

The Administration for Children's Services would not answer whether they have investigated the mother before.