TRAVONTAE GOUDE - 4 Months - Albany GA

Baby dies in mesh netting


September 23rd 2010

ALBANY, GA (WALB) – Albany's Child Death Investigation Team is looking into the death of a 4-month old baby in east Albany. The baby died at a house on Leonard Avenue.Family members tell us Travontae Goude's head became entangled in the mesh netting of a playpen. The child's 14-year-old mother and the baby don't live in the home, but were staying with family members. A family member tried to revive the child, while EMS was called."Once I arrived they had actually placed the child on the couch area so they had removed the child from the bed to the couch. Actually the granddad had performed CPR on the child before EMS arrived on the scene," said Investigator Greg Blackmon.Investigators questioned the mother and other relatives who were in the home to find out exactly what happened. Goude's body will be sent to Atlanta or Macon for an autopsy.The infant death comes just days after the death of a toddler in metro Atlanta. An 11-year old babysitter is charged with murder in that case. Investigators say 2-year old Zyda White died over the weekend as a result of head injuries and blunt force trauma to her body and buttocks.http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=13200607

Somebody is finally going to take a look at the real problem at last instead of just keeping an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff!

Updated: 5:09 PM Sep 27, 2010
Official: Autopsies shed little light on babies deaths.
Filed 3:30 p.m.
A county commissioner pleads for help with preventing teen pregnancies after discussion of two recent infant deaths Monday morning.
Posted: 3:44 PM Sep 27, 2010
Reporter: J.D. Sumner
Email Address: j.d.sumner@albanyherald.com

ALBANY, Ga: Investigators say that preliminary autopsy results have failed to show a definitive cause of death for two infants who died last week in two separate Albany incidents.

District Attorney Investigator Gregory Blackmon said Monday that both autopsies revealed no trauma on the bodies of neither 3-month-old Antonio Harvey nor 4-month-old Travontae Goude and that the death investigations of both children will continue.

Police responded to Goude's home on the 2100 block of Leonard Avenue after his mother discovered the child not breathing and partially entangled in the mesh netting of his crib.

The next day, police responded to Harvey's home on Gillespie Drive where he was found unresponsive.

Blackmon said that the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Goude has asked to see additional photos and videos of the child's bed before making a determination in the case.

"There will be follow-ups done on both cases," Blackmon said. "Investigations are continuing on."

Discussion about the deaths spilled over into Monday's County Commission meeting where Commissioner Jack Stone said he was deeply troubled by the deaths and called for action from the District Attorney's office in investigating not only the deaths but the circumstances of the pregnancy.

"This hearts my heart to hear of these two babies dying and that one of their mother's was just 13! 13! That's a baby having a baby. It's just a crying shame," he said.

Blackmon said that an inquiry has been made into the pregnancy and that contact has been made with the father, but because of his age the charge could only be a misdemeanor and the statute of limitations has expired.

Goude's mother, who is actually 14 according to police, along with the father, who is 15, violated Georgia law when they had sex, Blackmon said. But because he was only a year older than she was at the time, it would be the less serious misdemeanor and the window police would have had to charge him would have already expired.

The Goude case is the exception rather than the rule, according to Blackmon. Teen mothers rarely disclose the father of their children which forces investigators to get court-ordered DNA samples which are costly and take weeks to process, he said.

County Commissioner Muarlean Edwards said that a forum on parenting is being planned incorporating the District Attorney's Office, the state department of Family and Children's Services and other social entities but that a date has yet to be set.