Autopsy inconclusive on emaciated NJ boy’s mother
Mar 29, 2013, 8:57 PM
UNION, N.J. (AP) – Authorities said Friday they’re still not sure what caused the death of a woman found in an apartment with her emaciated 4-year-old son, who had been alone with her body for days, living off a bag of sugar.
Union Township Police Director Daniel Zieser said autopsy results were inconclusive for 38-year-old Kiana Workman. Authorities are hoping to learn more when toxicology results come back, a process that Zieser said may take two or three weeks. Police don’t suspect foul play and said Workman had some underlying health issues, which they declined to specify.
Police are still hoping to learn how long Workman was dead in the apartment, though Zieser said they suspected it was at least a few days because of the state of the body.
Workman’s body was discovered Tuesday in her mother’s apartment in Union Township, a small suburb about 15 miles from New York City. Workman, who was from New York City’s Brooklyn borough, had moved there with her child after her mother was sent to a nursing home to recover from double-hip-replacement surgery.
Police found Workman’s son naked and malnourished when they forced open the chain-locked apartment door. The boy told police he had been eating from a bag of sugar and hadn’t been able to open the refrigerator door or a can of soup he had found.
Police discovered Workman’s body after maintenance workers reported a foul odor.
The boy was treated at a hospital and released Thursday. He is now in temporary foster care. Adoption offers have poured in from around the world, but authorities were still trying to locate any additional family members in the ongoing investigation.
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