01:21 PM CDT on Wednesday, July 9, 2008
By KIMBERLY DURNAN / The Dallas Morning News kdurnan@dallasnews.com

Dallas police are investigating the death of an 8-month-old girl whose father told police she stopped breathing while napping in their Oak Cliff apartment.

The 22-year-old man, who was also watching a 1-year-old girl at the time, called 911 about noon Tuesday, Senior Cpl. Janice Crowther said.

He said he had placed Raphaella Meche in her playpen and later noticed she wasn't breathing.

When paramedics arrived at the Chesterfield Drive apartment, they found the girl nonresponsive and took her to Methodist Charlton Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

A preliminary autopsy report revealed no suspicious injury or evidence of sexual assault, and no arrests were immediately anticipated, police said.

“We still have questions, and we are waiting for the toxicology reports to come back,” Lt. C.L. Williams said. “Right now there is nothing that leads us to think there has been a criminal act.”

Such toxicology reports typically take weeks to complete.

Police declined to identify the mother and father of the baby, because no one has been arrested.

However, the parents have a history with state Child Protective Services authorities and were undergoing drug treatment and drug testing, CPS spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales said. The parents began drug treatment after Raphaella was born because she and her mother tested positive for methamphetamine, the spokewoman said.

Police questioned both the father and mother, who, coincidentally, was released from jail Tuesday. The mother had served time for minor charges that probably were traffic violations, Cpl. Crowther said.

CPS officials placed the 1-year-old girl who was also in the apartment in a foster home. She did not have any injuries, police said.

Staff writers Brian Whitley and Tanya Eiserer contributed to this report.

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Emphasis added by H4K Editor