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Mother In Custody After Toddler Found Dead In Sterling

STERLING, Colo. (CBS4) - An investigation is under way into the death of a 3-year-old boy in Logan County. It began after police received a report the child had not been seen for a while.

Juanita Kinzie, 24, has been taken into custody. She's suspected of murdering her young son and hiding his body under a mobile home in Sterling.

Kinzie's arrest affidavit says she is a methamphetamine user who told at least one person she'd made a mistake and that her son, Caleb Pacheko, was with God.

On Monday the Facebook page in Pacheko's name had posts about the discovery of the body in a mobile home over the weekend. Investigators say it's unclear how long the body had been under the mobile home.

A neighbor told CBS4's Mike Hooker Kinzie lived in the mobile home a short time and moved out about 6 months ago.

Caleb Pacheco
Caleb Pacheko (credit: Facebook)

According to court documents, police in Denver contacted Kinzie on Sunday at a disturbance call. Police said she was under the influence of meth and told paramedics that her son with dead.

An arrest warrant says the boy's aunt told authorities the last time she saw the boy was a year ago.

Toddler Death Map
(credit: CBS)

There were reports of a terrible smell coming from under the mobile home. A neighbor told Hooker that another neighbor mentioned the smell at the end of last summer.

"He told me at the end of August, 'You better check these sewer lines out because I can smell something.' It's a very bad deal for a little kid," neighbor Larry Morris said.

The coroner planned to do an autopsy on the body on Monday.

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