Baby boy dies after being burned in Pasadena

PASADENA, TX

It happened sometime after 2pm Wednesday at a home in the 200 block of North Memorial Court. But detectives had to wait hours to start their investigation because the family immediately hired a lawyer.

With a search warrant secured, Pasadena police finally entered the house where the baby boy lived. With no cooperation from his parents, they had been waiting for hours, while neighbors grew more angry.

"If he hurt that little baby or neglected that baby -- whoever did it -- they need to go to jail because that baby never committed any sins in this whole world. That's an innocent little baby," neighbor Wayne Flood said.

According to police, the 10-month-old's parents didn't call 9-1-1. Rather, they rushed him to the hospital themselves with burns over half his body. They believe he had been scalded by boiling water.

Neighbors say the baby had just returned to his parents care after an injury months ago.

"He said the baby had an accident, that he broke his legs or something, and that's when they took him away," next-door neighbor Juanita Presa said.

CPS had removed the child, according to neighbors. His parents were open about it.

"He tells me all his business," Flood said.

Presa remembers seeing him for the first time.

"He was beautiful. He's a boy, I know, but he was so cute -- he was like a baby doll, a boy doll" she said.

And now what's happened is just so hard to believe.

"If something happened to this child, I really hope that it wasn't him who did it," neighbor Adrian Presa said.

Detectives are still trying to determine who was last with the baby because his mother, father and grandparents all live there. They still don't know if the incident was an accident or intentional because the family isn't talking.

The family's lawyer declined to give comment to Eyewitness News.

Find Jessica on Facebook at ABC13JessicaWilley or on Twitter at @jwilleyabc13
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