Story Created: Aug 12, 2009 at 10:31 PM CDT

Story Updated: Aug 13, 2009 at 3:43 PM CDT

Update: Texas County Sheriff Carl Watson says Loyce D. Decker died from head injuries Wednesday afternoon. The 19-month old was found unresponsive inside a home Tuesday. Watson says charges may be filed as early as Thursday. The autopsy has been rescheduled for Friday.

The suspicious death of a 19-month-old girl is under investigation in Texas County. Investigators say the child died around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon in a Springfield hospital.

Someone inside a mobile home off Highway 32 in Licking called 911 around 5:00 p.m. Tuesday evening. "They said there was an unresponsive 18-month-old inside," Texas County Sheriff Carl Watson says. "She wasn't breathing, she was limp and her lips were blue," Neighbor Jerry Brown says.

Rescuers flew the baby girl to a Springfield hospital and placed her on life support. During our interview, the sheriff learned she had passed away from her head injuries. "The person that was with the child said she had fallen in the bath tub but we do not believe that was the case," Watson says.

"It never should have happened," Brown says. Several neighbors say they called the The Missouri Department of Social Services Children’s Division. "They were here every day for a month checking in on them because they had taken the children away just a few months ago," Brown says.

Neighbors say the children would roam the neighborhood. They say the mother's twin boys were locked out of the home in freezing temperatures last winter. "I think the door knob was too high. I heard them screaming,” Brown says. The children live just off Highway 32. Neighbors say they were constantly trying to keep the children out of the roadway.

Watson says a thorough investigation is underway. The sheriff says a friend of the mother, who was watching the child, is in custody. The man in his late twenties is being held for a probation violation.

An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday morning.

http://www.kspr.com/news/local/53086632.html

Emphasis added by H4K Editor