EVAN WALLACE and AMY WALLACE - 21 months and 7 weeks -(2009/2007) Peoria IL

After one of the longest deliberations in the memory of Peoria
County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll, a coroner's jury on Thursday ruled the
May death of a 21-month-old boy a homicide.
The jury deliberated for nearly 1 hour, 20 minutes - not including a
brief return to ask follow-up questions of Ingersoll and Detective
Shawn Meeks of the Peoria Police Department - before declaring Evan
Wallace a homicide victim.
"Our lives have been devastated by this," maternal grandmother Sheryl Scheets said during the inquest. "We can't get closure."
When the homicide verdict was read, Scheets repeatedly said: "Thank you, God!"
Amid tears, the boy's mother, Sebrina Wallace of Princeville, repeated: "My baby!"
Immediately after the exhausting deliberation, the jury heard facts
presented in the 2007 death of the infant's cousin, Amy Wallace, who
died under similar circumstances at 7 weeks of age. The jury ruled her
manner of death undetermined.
Amy Wallace's death originally had been attributed to sudden infant
death syndrome until facts of the cousins' deaths were compared.
Thursday's inquests are used only to determine manner of death.
Criminal charges in either death would come from prosecutors, after the
completion of police investigations.
Samuel Wallace, the father of Amy, was present when both babies were
discovered in distress, authorities said. Peoria and North Pekin police
are investigating the deaths.
Samuel Wallace's presence when Evan was found unresponsive at a
Peoria apartment on May 23 and when Amy was found in a North Pekin
apartment on Oct. 22, 2007, and the fact that both babies were found
lying face-down on fabric - clothes in one case, blankets in another -
"raises the possibility of asphyxia" in Amy's death, Ingersoll said.
Both babies were pronounced dead at the Children's Hospital of Illinois at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria.
Samuel Wallace has not been charged with a crime and authorities
have not named him as a suspect. No arrests have been made in either
death.
Meeks said his department's investigation into Evan's death
continues. North Pekin Police Chief Pat Landrith said his department
plans to "re-coordinate" with Peoria police in regard to Amy's death
"because of the circumstances."
During Evan's inquest, Meeks and Ingersoll revealed that the baby
had abrasions on his nose, mouth, chin, head and neck. Ingersoll called
the abrasions "suspicious of asphyxia from suffocation."
Meeks said the boy's father, Daniel Wallace, and two other adults -
including his brother Samuel - were present when Evan was found
unresponsive about 2:40 a.m. and was pronounced dead at the hospital
less than an hour later.
Evan, who was lying in the same adult bed with then nearly
4-year-old brother Elijah Wallace, was found in a pile of clothes
between the bed and wall, but with his face turned to the side and
unobstructed by the clothes, police were told by the boy's father.
Meeks said the abrasions could not have been caused by rescue
personnel. The detective said Daniel Wallace told him the child looked
fine after playing outside before being put to bed.
Sebrina Wallace said her son was unusually strong for his age.
During an illness in which Evan became dehydrated, she said it took
three adults to hold the 21-month-old down to administer IVs. She said
she couldn't understand how a youngster so strong would be unable to
pull himself out of a pile of clothes without suffocating.
During Amy's inquest, Samuel Wallace - the only person in the North
Pekin home when she was found unresponsive and not breathing - said he
panicked after discovering the girl in distress about 9:25 a.m. on a
makeshift bed of blankets and a pillow placed on the floor. Rather than
calling 911, he said he began running out of the apartment with the
baby toward a nearby police station, before running into a neighbor who
instead called for help.
She was pronounced dead at the hospital soon after arriving.
"I loved Amy very much," Samuel Wallace said. "That's all I have to say."
Ingersoll said there were no signs of trauma to Amy's body but that
the remarkably similar circumstances of the cousins' deaths left open
the possibility of an intentional suffocation.

http://www.pjstar.com/news/x1139673156/Coroners-jury-Boys-death-a-homicide

no follow up charges - guess this is a cold case?