Child found dead in downtown Kansas City alley; police investigate as suspicious death

Kansas City police opened a suspicious death investigation Monday after a child under age 12 was discovered suffering from “bodily trauma” in a downtown alleyway.

Officers were dispatched around 11 a.m. to a reported medical call of an unknown nature that brought paramedics to 10th Street and Grand Avenue, said Capt. Corey Carlisle, a department spokesman. There they found the child, described as a juvenile male, with unspecified injuries.

He was pronounced dead at the scene. The child was not immediately identified by police.

As of Monday afternoon, detectives continued to investigate the circumstances surrounding the child’s death, Carlisle said, including whether the cause was accidental or intentional.

No one was in police custody.

Police officers, crime scene investigators and detectives were on scene into the afternoon as streets near 10th and Grand were blocked off to traffic. Investigators were seen in the alleyway between Grand and Walnut near commercial and residential buildings.

Police were asking anyone with information about the child’s death to call homicide detectives at 816-234-5043 or the anonymous TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.