TAKIAH WARREN - 2 yo -(2009) Erie PA

Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook said no cause of death could be determined in an autopsy today on Takiah Warren.
The 2-year-old was found unresponsive by her
mother about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday at their apartment in the Harbor Homes
public housing complex, Erie Police Chief Steve Franklin said.
The toddler was rushed by ambulance to Saint Vincent Health Center, where she was pronounced dead just before noon.
Cook said lab tests will be done to determine
if the child suffered from an undiagnosed birth defect or virus that
could have led to her death. It is expected to take a month or more for
those test results to be returned, Cook said.
Police have called the girl's death suspicious
and have a man in custody for questioning, but no charges have been
filed. The man is identified as Marquice D. Evans, 19. Police said he dated Takiah's mother.
Evans was captured about 12:30 a.m. today after
a short foot chase near East 25th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue,
police said. Police had been looking for Evans after receiving
information that he was at a home in that area.
Evans was arraigned this morning on charges
stemming from a July 6 incident, in which police said in a criminal
complaint that Evans stuck a handgun into the victim's chest and robbed
him of his wallet.
Evans' bond was set at $50,000.
He was taken back to the Erie Bureau of Police
for questioning following his arraignment at Erie 5th Ward District
Judge Joseph LeFaiver's office, investigators said.

A 5-year-old girl told investigators she saw 19-year-old Marquice D.
Evans hold a towel over 2-year-old Takiah Warren's face on Monday and
then sit on her.
The next morning, Nikisha Gambill found her 2-year-old daughter dead.
Warren's 5-year-old sister told an interviewer
at the Children's Advocacy Center the sequence of events during an
interview Tuesday, according to an affidavit attached to a search
warrant filed in the case.
The search warrant referred to the case as a
homicide, though police have publicly only referred to Warren's death
as "suspicious" and have not charged anyone in connection with it.
The 5-year-old told interviewers that "Marquice
picked up TW, carried her to Nikisha Gambill's bedroom, and placed a
towel over TW's face. Marquice then sat on TW," according to the affidavit.
Erie Police Chief Steve Franklin said Gambill,
29, left Warren and three other children, ages 3, 5 and 7, in the care
of a 12-year-old girl through Monday night and was not at home at the
time the 5-year-old said the incident occurred. Franklin said Evans and Gambill dated.
Despite the 5-year-old's words, Evans had not been charged in the case Wednesday.
Franklin said investigators are working to determine whether the 5-year-old's account is true before moving forward.
"Her statement is the strongest evidence we
have right now to indicate this child died at the hands of someone
else," Franklin said. "It's clearly a good indication that something
happened, but we need more. We need physical evidence to corroborate that statement."
That evidence did not come from an autopsy
completed Wednesday afternoon.
The autopsy found no definitive cause of death, said Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook.
"We're not going to be able rule on a cause or
manner until lab tests are back," Cook said. Those lab results could
take a month or more, he said, and might indicate whether Warren was suffocated.
Cook said there were no signs of trauma or other injuries that would have led to the child's death.
Warren was found unresponsive by her mother just after 11:30 a.m. Tuesday in their Harbor Homes apartment at 1932 E. 19th St.
The affidavit attached to the search warrant said Erie firefighters were first
on the scene and attempted CPR before an ambulance arrived.
The girl was rushed to Saint Vincent Health Center, where she was pronounced dead at 12:03 p.m.
Police released a mug shot of Evans on Tuesday evening, saying he was a "person of interest in the investigation."
Evans was captured after a short foot chase
about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday near East 25th Street and Pennsylvania
Avenue. He was arraigned Wednesday morning on charges connected to a
July 6 robbery and is being held on $50,000 bond.
He remained throughout the day Wednesday at the
Erie Bureau of Police, where he was questioned by detectives in relation to Warren's death.
A police car was stationed throughout the day
outside the apartment where Warren's body was found, and police crime
tape kept the front door cordoned off.

Mother of toddler who died found dead in bathtub
Published: February 3, 2010 5:50 AM EST
The mother of Takiah Warren, the 2-year-old who died under unexplained circumstances on Oct. 13, also has been found dead.
Police found the body of Nikisha Gambill in the bathtub of her apartment at 1932 E. 19th St. late Monday night. Officers had gone to the Harbor Homes apartment at the request of a family member, who was concerned about Gambill.
Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook pronounced Gambill dead at 12:45 a.m. Tuesday. He said Gambill had been dead "a few days." An autopsy showed no signs of foul play, Cook said. He delayed a final ruling on the death until police complete their investigation.
In October, Gambill's 2-year-old daughter was found unresponsive in a bedroom, a towel laid over her face. A sibling told police that a 19-year-old family friend had sat on Warren. The friend was not prosecuted.
Gambill was not home at the time of her daughter's death, police said.

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