Police investigating sudden death of an infant, Coquitlam

Coquitlam RCMP and the BC Coroner’s Service are investigating the sudden death of a one-year-old boy at an unlicensed residential daycare in Coquitlam. The incident occurred on Monday, January 17th and police were contacted immediately.

"We understand that this incident is going to raise a lot of fears for parents and a lot of questions from the public," said Cst. Kristina Biro, Coquitlam RCMP’s media relations officer. "We are committed to finding answers and we will be releasing information related to this investigation as it is safe and appropriate to do so."

Q&A:

Is the death suspicious?
The death of an infant is tragic and very serious. Police only get one chance to conduct an investigation so we treat everything as suspicious until we have reason not to.

Why did you wait two days to release the information?
If our investigators felt that any of the circumstances surrounding this incident presented an imminent threat to public safety, we would have worked with the media to notify the public.

Are police investigating any other complaints related to this daycare?
No. This is a single incident of sudden death.

Are charges being considered?
It’s very early in the investigation and I’m not going to speculate outcomes.

Has an autopsy been done?
An autopsy has been completed but the results are not known at this time.

Anything related to licensing of daycares.
Those are regulatory issues, they are handled by Fraser Health Authority.

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Coquitlam RCMP are currently investigating the sudden death of an infant at a residential daycare that occurred on Monday January 17.

Coquitlam RCMP and the BC Coroners Service are investigating the circumstances surrounding this death.

Out of respect for the infant’s family, no further information will be released at this time.

Updates will be posted on this website as information becomes available.