Five children removed from home after death of 4-year-old

06:15 AM PST on Thursday, January 27, 2005

By RAY LANE / KING 5 News

LAKE STEVENS, Wash. - There are a lot of people with a lot of questions about what happened inside a Lake Stevens house that led to the death of 4-year-old Sirita Sotelo.

She was found late Friday night when someone inside the home called 911. Five days later, detectives are still trying to piece together what specifically caused her to die.

"Anytime you have a 4-year-old who dies. There has to be a reason. And this death indicates to us that it was a homicide and that we're going to investigate is as a homicide," said Deputy Rich Niebusch of the Snohomish Co. Sheriff's Dept.

KING

Sirita Sotelo, 4

Washington State Poison Control told KING 5 News that a woman claiming to be the little girl's aunt called the department's hotline number early Friday evening, saying that the girl was complaining of abdominal pains and a burning sensation in her mouth after waking up from a nap.

In a calm manner, the woman said that the child might have swallowed some glue from a glue gun. Poison Control advised her to give the girl some milk or ice cream to help the stomachache. When someone from Poison Control called back a few hours later to check in, they got an answering machine.

When deputies arrived at the girl’s house, they found the girl dead.

Five other children were taken from the home as a safety precuation. Those children, two boys and three girls ranging in age from 11 months to 8 years, were not injured.

Officials from the Department of Social and Human Services said "In situations like this where there is a suspected homicide, we defer to the police to allow them space to do their investigation. We will simultaneously be checking our records."

In the meantime, investigators say that one of the adults who lives at the house is considered a potential suspect and that they're having a tough time getting information.

"We're receiving varying degrees of cooperation. We're working with them. We're trying to arrive at the truth. We're trying to get there," said Niebusch.

No arrests have been made in connection with the girl's death.

The medical examiner's office is currently running tests on the girl's body, trying to get a better idea of what caused her death.