Investigation Into Commerce Baby Death Continues

State and Ottawa County authorities are investigating the death of an 8-month-old boy on Friday, May 4, 2012.

Commerce Police are calling the death of the boy suspicious and have asked the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation for help.

Investigators say 8-month old Randy Kirk, III died inside a home on Walnut Street in Commerce. They say his mother found him dead around noon last Friday.

"I was in the house and she come over here screaming, ‘let me use your phone. I've got to call 911 my baby's dead,'" neighbor Teresa Patrick said. "So I gave her my phone and that's all she could scream was, 'my baby's dead.'"

Teresa Patrick lives next door. She says the family of five, Kirk's mother and father as well as an older sister and brother, have only lived in the home for a few weeks.

Before that, Patrick says, they were homeless and lived out of their car. Patrick says she's heard arguing and fighting coming from the home and one time went next door to tell the couple to keep it down.

But, she says the adults seemed to take good care of the children.

"The little girl was like a daddy's little girl; she stayed around dad," Patrick said. "But the little boy they had, he stayed with his mom a lot."

The OSBI isn't saying much about the investigation other than that they're waiting on results from the autopsy. They will say, however, that the little boy showed no obvious signs of death.

The OSBI says toxicology tests will determine if there was anything unusual in the child's system. We were unable to get in touch with anyone from the Commerce Police Department.

Neighbors are shocked at this turn of events; Patrick says she enjoyed spending time with the baby's mother and hopes the investigation clears her of suspicion.

5/5/2012 Related Story: OSBI Investigate Suspicious Death Of Commerce Baby