5-year-old wandered from home and froze to death in park, cops say. Now mom arrested

Months after a 5-year-old boy was found frozen to death in a park, his mother has been arrested, Michigan authorities say.

Derricka Fleming, 24, was charged with involuntary manslaughter following the Jan. 23 death of her son in Clinton Township, the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office announced May 31.

The prosecutor’s office said Fleming put her son to bed in their apartment, then went upstairs to visit a neighbor. That’s when the 5-year-old wandered from the apartment and walked to a nearby park.

Police were sent to the apartment when the child’s parents realized the boy was not home, WDIV reported. The boy was wearing only an undershirt and underwear, the station said.

“The parents of the 5-year-old are going to be outside, walking around the building,” the dispatcher said, according to WDIV. “The mother is under the car ports crying.”

Officers found the boy in the park and he was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the prosecutor.

The prosecutor’s office called the boy’s death “tragic and preventable.”

“It is alleged that she placed her child to bed and left him unattended, resulting in his tragic disappearance and subsequent discovery in a nearby park,” prosecutor Peter Lucido said in a statement. “The evidence suggests a severe breach of parental duty and neglect that led to this devastating outcome.”

Fleming was jailed on a $100,000 cash bond.

Clinton Township is about 25 miles northeast of Detroit.

This story was originally published June 1, 2023 at 10:57 AM.