Police: Boy Found Dead In Springs Fire Was Murdered
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP/CBS4) - Authorities say a 5-year-old Colorado Springs boy found dead after an apartment fire had drowned, and his mother has been arrested on a murder charge.
Last Friday emergency crews responded to a fire at the home of Shannon Dodson.
Dodson's ex-husband (and not the child's father) told CBS4 she had lost most custody rights when she lost her job. At one point she was living in a shelter and virtually homeless.
He says Dodson kept her son past her outlined custody period and police had been trying to contact her for three days last weekend.
The boy's grandmother, Jillian Gomez of Colorado Springs, says she reported the boy missing Nov. 3 after he didn't return from a scheduled visit with his mother. Gomez says police didn't do enough to find the boy before he was killed.
Dodson documented her experience as a mother frequently using Facebook. At 1:22 a.m. last Friday Dodson posted a message on her Facebook page that said "Fini."
Eight hours later emergency crews responded to a fire in her home. Neighbors watched as rescuers brought out 5-year-old Jude Gomez.
"I just saw the fire department bring out some little kid, and they were doing CPR to him. I don't know if he survived or not. And then a couple minutes later they brought the mom out," said a neighbor.
Autopsy results were released Sunday on the boy. Investigation revealed that he didn't die in the fire but had drowned.
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