MIA KYLEE MILLS SIMMERMAN - 3 yo - Lexington KY

Missing child found unresponsive dies

Posted: Wed 6:53 PM, Sep 12, 2012
Updated: Wed 11:50 PM, Sep 12, 2012
Reporter: Jerrika Insco

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) - An investigation is underway after a young girl reported missing was found unresponsive and later died.

Lexington Police confirmed the girl's death just before 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Emergency crews were called to a home on Graviss Court in Lexington around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.

Neighbors say they are just distraught and in disbelief that this toddler is gone.

"My prayers are with them. I just hope that they can get through everything okay, and I just hope everything's gonna alright for them," said Lauren Schultz, a neighbor who knows the family.

Police tell us the girl's mother called 911 to reporter her three-year-old missing.

Police tell us firefighters found the girl inside her family's home 30 minutes after she was first reported missing.

The crimes against children and the robbery homicide unit with Lexington Police responded to the scene.

http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/Child-reported-missing-found-unresponsive-169543356.html

Lexington child found dead had 'no outward signs of trauma', coroner says

Published: September 13, 2012
Updated 1 hour ago
By Valarie Honeycutt Spears

A 3-year-old girl showed "no outward signs of trauma" after she was found unresponsive in her home and later died, Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said Thursday.

The girl was found about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday — 30 minutes after she was reported missing.

A firefighter found the girl at a home in the 600 block of Graviss Court, off Clays Mill Road near Man o' War Boulevard, where she apparently had gone missing. She was taken to University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Neither Ginn nor Lexington police spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts would say where the girl was found.

"That is central to the investigation," Roberts said.

No one had been arrested or cited as of Thursday morning, Roberts said. She said police did not call the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services to investigate.

An autopsy was being performed Thursday, said Ginn. The coroner said he would wait for the results before ruling on the cause and manner of death. Ginn said he would identify the girl later Thursday.

In an interview Thursday morning, neighbor Marc Graviss described the death as a "horrible, horrible accident."

Graviss said he heard the child's father calling her name and saw him walking around the court searching for her.

"He was walking around frantic. He said he took a shower, and when he got out the child was gone," said Graviss.

Graviss said he and other neighbors fanned out and started looking for the girl.

The child's father told him he had looked everywhere in the home, Graviss said. About 15 or 20 minutes after police and firefighters arrived, another neighbor told Graviss a firefighter-emergency medical technician had found the girl inside the home, he recalled.

Graviss said a neighbor told him the child was playing hide and seek.

Graviss said the girl's mother was at work.

Graviss said he did not know the family well, but he always saw the child walking to the mailbox with her father. He said she was "bubbly."

"She was a very playful 3-year-old girl, happy girl ... she was always smiling," Graviss said.

Another neighbor, Marian Gulley, said she was friends with the child's parents. Gulley declined to name the couple and said she had no first-hand knowledge of what led to the child's death.

But, Gulley said, "There is not a sweeter couple than the mom and the dad."

"That little girl was absolutely the most precious things in their lives and a lot of the neighbors'.

"She was never outside alone. She was always with one" of her parents.

"She was just precious. She was very special," said Gulley. "It's something nobody should have to go through."

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/09/13/2335066/dead-lexington-youngster-had-no.html#storylink=cpy

Grandfather says 3-year-old Lexington girl climbed into bean bag, suffocatedRead more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/09/13/2335066/dead-lexington-youngster-had-no.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy

By Valarie Honeycutt Spears and Josh Kegley — vhoneycutt@herald-leader.com, jkegley@herald-leader.com
A 3-year-old girl found unresponsive in her Lexington home after being reported missing Wednesday apparently climbed into a bean bag and suffocated, family members and neighbors said.However, police and coroner's officials revealed little about their ongoing investigations into the death of Mia Kylee Mills Simmerman, who went by Kylee.Those who knew Kylee said she was a loving, bubbly child, smart for her age, who took particular pride in her bedroom."She would grab you by the hand and say 'Come and see my room. We rearranged it again,'" neighbor Marian Gulley said.Just after 3 p.m. Wednesday, Kylee went missing at her home on Graviss Court, off Clays Mill Road near Man o' War Boulevard. Following a frantic half-hour search by police, firefighters, family members and neighbors, a firefighter-emergency medical technician found her inside the home. Two police cars escorted an ambulance to University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, but Kylee could not be resuscitated



Kylee Mills Simmerman, 3, was found unresponsive in her home and later died at the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital on Wednesday September 12, 2012. Photo Provided

Kylee was the youngest grandchild of state Rep. Terry Mills, D-Lebanon. He told the Herald-Leader his family is grieving her death, which he called a tragic accident. Mills said his family had received "messages from all over the state, and we want to express sincere appreciation and thanks for that.""We are suffering here," he said. "We'll get through this, but it's not going to be easy. We'll just have to deal with this. ... She was a beautiful child."Police and coroner's officials said little about the circumstances surrounding Kylee's death, including where inside the home she was found. Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn said Thursday that there were "no outward signs of trauma," but the coroner's report did not reveal whether Kylee's death was being considered an accident or a homicide.No one was home at the tan, single-family house Thursday. A screen door hung slightly ajar, and a plastic bucket and shovel, a baby bottle and a small pair of sunglasses lay near the front stoop.It was a stark contrast to the busy scene the night before. Detectives blocked off the home with police tape as they spent more than six hours taking pictures and searching inside.Mills said Kylee's parents were his daughter Terri Lee Mills, a Lexington hair stylist, and Andy Simmerman."There was a police interview for about three hours, and it was quite an ordeal for Kylee's dad," Terry Mills said. "I think it's clear what happened. ... We believe she had climbed into a bean bag."The coroner's office called my daughter. They apologized for the police interrogation. They assured her that the cause of death was suffocation."It was not clear what type of bean bag Kylee apparently crawled inside. Bean bags with zippers were at the center of a public health scare in the 1990s, causing manufacturers to recall millions of bean bags, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.In a news release from 1995, the commission said there had been five deaths from suffocation and at least 27 injuries caused by zippered bean bag chairs. "The children who died unzipped the bean bag chairs, crawled inside, inhaled and ingested the small pellets of foam filling. In other cases children choked while playing with pellets from unzipped bean bag chairs which clogged their mouths and noses," the release said.In an interview Thursday morning, neighbor Marc Graviss said he thought Kylee was playing hide-and-seek when she went inside the bean bag. He described the death as a "horrible, horrible accident."Graviss said he heard Kylee's father calling her name and saw him walking around searching for her. Her mother was at work."He was walking around frantic. He said he took a shower, and when he got out the child was gone," Graviss said.Graviss said he and other neighbors fanned out and started looking for the girl.The child's father told him he had looked everywhere in the home, Graviss said. About 15 or 20 minutes after police and firefighters arrived, another neighbor told Graviss a firefighter had found the girl, he recalled.He said that he did not know the family well but that he always saw the child walking to the mailbox with her father. "She was a very playful 3-year-old girl, happy girl ... she was always smiling," Graviss said.Another neighbor, Marian Gulley, said she was a friend of the child's parents. She said she never saw Kylee alone; her parents were always with her"That little girl was absolutely the most precious thing in their lives and a lot of the neighbors'," Gulley said."She was just precious. She was very special," said Gulley. "It's something nobody should have to go through." Valarie Honeycutt Spears: (859) 231-3409.Twitter: @vhspears

Such a gorgeous little angel. Never leave your toddler alone for a second.

William

3-year-old girl's death inside bean bag was an accident, coroner says

Published: November 26, 2012
The death of a 3-year-old Lexington girl found suffocated inside a beanbag was an accident, said Fayette County Coroner Gary Ginn.

Shortly after Mia Kylee Mills Simmerman's death in September, Ginn said the cause of death was asphyxia or suffocation. He said there were "no outward signs of trauma," but the coroner's report did not say whether Kylee's death was being considered an accident or a homicide.

Ginn said on Monday that the death of Mia, who went by Kylee, was an accident and that was noted on her death certificate last month.

Kylee died Sept. 12 after she apparently crawled inside a beanbag, possibly while playing hide and seek.

Just after 3 p.m. that day Kylee went missing at her home on Graviss Court, off Clays Mill Road near Man o' War Boulevard.

A half-hour search by police, firefighters, family members and neighbors ensued before a firefighter-emergency medical technician found Kylee inside the home in the beanbag.

Two police cars escorted an ambulance to University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital, but Kylee could not be resuscitated.

Kylee was the youngest grandchild of state Rep. Terry Mills, D-Lebanon.

On Monday, Ginn said he had never heard of a similar death in Lexington.

Beanbags with zippers were at the center of a public health scare in the 1990s, causing manufacturers to recall millions of beanbags, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The commission said in 1995 there had been five deaths from suffocation and at least 27 injuries caused by zippered beanbag chairs.

Ginn said the beanbag had a warning label indicating that such an accident could occur.

The coroner said he frequently speaks to community groups about the dangers of children suffocating as they sleep with their parents and other caretakers who roll over on them. In the future, Ginn said he will discuss the dangers of children playing with a beanbag.

"This is another suffocation that could happen," Ginn said.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/11/26/2422120/3-year-old-girls-death-inside.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/11/26/2422120/3-year-old-girls-death-inside.html#storylink=cpy

A child this size could easily climb out of a bean bag chair.  I don't this this was an accident regardless of the ruling.