Detroit Police are investigating the case of a missing one-year-old baby girl found dead in the closet of her grandmother's home.
Mother Erica James dropped off baby Zyia Turner and two siblings at her paternal grandmother's house the night before her medical appointment on Friday. The grandmother left the three children in the care of an uncle while she ran errands.
By 4:30 p.m on Friday,, according to the Detroit Free Press, the 17-month-old toddler was reported missing. Responding to a call, the Detroit Police Department first searched the grandmother's home, and then the surrounding neighborhood. But their efforts were stalled while the Detroit Police Department tried to locate a cadaver dog to assist in the search.
Zyia's body was found underneath a pile of clothes in a closet inside her grandmother's house by a Southfield Police Department cadaver dog around 1 a.m. Saturday morning.
Turner's grandmother, Bridget Elam, says she thinks her granddaughter's death was a terrible accident. She told WDIV that her son, who is being questioned by the police, did nothing wrong.
“My son who was watching them, he has helped raise all his nieces and nephews. He would never do anything to them,” said Elam.
An autopsy is ongoing at the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office. WDIV says toxicology reports could take weeks to complete.
