Cause of death of three-year-old being investigated

Stories by Crystal Jones

The tragic death last Thursday of a three-year-old boy is being investigated to determine the cause.

LJ Keran Jack, who normally lives at Park Hill with his father, was reportedly found unconscious at the South Rivers home of his mother, where he had spent the last two weeks of his life. SEARCHLIGHT spoke with LJ’s stepfather, Klifroy “Marken” Mckenzie, who said he and Diana Caine, LJ’s mother, found the boy sometime after 4 p.m. on August 24, when McKenzie returned from work.

McKenzie, who was still visibly shaken when interviewed by SEARCHLIGHT last Friday, said as he entered the yard, he saw LJ’s mother coming from the yard next door.

He said his girlfriend told him she was coming from his mother’s house, where she had gone to take their one-year-old daughter. According to McKenzie, Diana went ahead of him into the house, as he stopped in the yard to take off his shoes.

He said as Diana entered the house, she began screaming, calling for McKenzie to come.

“Marken, Marken come help me, come see way happen to LJ!,” McKenzie said his pregnant girlfriend shouted.

He said he ran to the assistance of the 23-year-old woman and found LJ lying on the floor, next to a frying pan. He said the boy was trembling, had a lump on his head and oil on his face.

McKenzie said they took up the child, placed him on the bed and massaged his body with rubbing alcohol, but LJ’s laboured breathing and racing heartbeat continued, so they scooped him up to take him to the South Rivers clinic.

“We meet some ladies by the road and one of them checked the child and say, ‘Is ah dead child yo carrying’,” McKenzie related.

The three-year-old was pronounced dead at the clinic.

Mckenzie told SEARCHLIGHT he believes the child climbed up on a bucket to try to reach food on the stove and fell.

When SEARCHLIGHT visited the Georgetown Police Station on Friday morning, the child’s mother was still in custody, being questioned by police.

A post mortem examination on the three-year-old’s body is expected to be performed to determine the cause of death.