Police investigating 7-year-old’s death

Child and mother had been staying in house in Rio Rancho

Police are looking into how a 7-year-old ended up dead Saturday morning at a home the child and their mother had been staying at in Rio Rancho.

Rio Rancho police chief Ron Vigil did not identify the child’s gender or cause of death but said officers are interviewing the child’s mother, along with others who were at the home when the child died. Vigil said Saturday afternoon nobody was under arrest.

He said detectives executed a search of the home but did not give any details on what they were looking for or may have found.

Vigil said officers responded to a 911 call at the home on the 250 block of Moonstone NE, near Highway 528 and Northern, around 10:30 a.m.

“Unfortunately we identified there was the death of a 7-year-old child,” Vigil said. “We are currently actively investigating the events that transpired leading up to that. There were some initial factors that caused us concerns.”

He would not elaborate on those concerns but said the child was with their mother, who is “cooperating with police.”

Vigil said the home belonged to someone else and the family had been staying there. The block of Moonstone was quiet Saturday afternoon except for a few police cars parked outside a home with crime scene tape stretched along its edges.

A neighbor stood beside his dog in a yard at the corner staring curiously at the police officers and vehicles down the street.