OVIEDO POLICE
have found few answers in death of 3-year-old boy earlier this month.
By the time Ricky Childs got to the hospital, his 3-year-old son had already died.
Kameron Brody Childs’ family found him unresponsive at home on Sharon Court in Oviedo on Oct. 9. He was taken to Central Florida Regional Hospital’s Oviedo Emergency Room, where he later died. Police are investigating his death as a homicide.
“He just turned 3,” Childs said. “He looked exactly like me.”
Childs recently separated from Brody’s mother, who was caring for the boy and his 5-year-old sister at the time. He saw the children a few times a week.
In the days after the boy’s death, police said the boy’s family was cooperating with the investigation. They have not made any arrests.
The Volusia-Seminole Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed it is handling the case, but a county spokeswoman said the death is still under investigation.
Few details about the case have been released in the nearly three weeks since the boy’s death.
“I’ve talked to the police so many times, and the lead investigator, and they tell me the same thing — that it’s an ongoing investigation,” said Sybonne Schelling, Ricky Childs’ mother and Brody’s grandmother. “Nobody knows what happened; there’s no explanation.”
There have been seven homicides of children under the age of 10 in seven Central Florida counties this year, down from 13 in 2015, according to medical examiners and law enforcement records. In most cases, police identify a family member or caretaker as the suspect, records show.
Seven of the children killed during those two years died of blunt-force injuries. Five died of gunshot wounds, two of strangulation, two of neglect, one was drowned and one died of injuries caused by possible arson. Causes of two deaths, including Brody’s, are undetermined.
Oviedo police have not publicly identified any suspects in Brody’s death.
“This has really taken a toll on my son, on myself, on my whole family,” Schelling said.
Schelling described her grandson as “a very rambunctious little boy” with curly hair who was especially close to his 5-year-old sister, Karmela.
“He loved to run and play and roll around on the floor and watch movies with his dad,” she said. “He was a happy baby.”
Karmela does not fully understand what happened to her brother, her family said. She is staying with her father and Schelling and has been going to school.
Childs said his son was a play-