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Toddler's death "unusual," say Sacramento police

SACRAMENTO -- Sacramento police are investigating the death of a toddler under what they're calling "unusual circumstances," reports CBS Sacramento.

Police found the 2-year-old unconscious Monday in his home. They are trying to determine if the death was accidental or criminal.

"We're not calling it suspicious. It's just an unusual death with unusual circumstances," said officer Justin Brown.

Neighbors say a man who lives at the home changed his story about how the little girl died several times.

"He had told them she had slipped and fell, but he told us it was an asthma attack and then he said it was the stomach," neighbor Ebony Smart told the station.

While investigators won't elaborate on what "unusual circumstances" means, Smart said they gave her an indication.

"When the police asked me questions, they said there was probably meth involved," she said. "I just don't think that what happened to that baby was an accident."

Smart said there are lots of late nights at the home, so she figured it was more of the same on Monday, until an ambulance arrived and took the little girl away.

"I (saw) them pick up the baby off the kitchen floor," Smart said.

She said she saw the 2-year-old wasn't breathing by the time paramedics brought the toddler outside the home in the Meadowview neighborhood of Sacramento on Monday.

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