LAKE STEVENS – Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives on Friday searched the house where a 4-year-old girl was found dead last week.
Sirita Sotelo died of multiple blunt force injuries Jan. 21. Her death is being investigated as a homicide. No one has been arrested in connection with the death, and investigators won’t say if they have any suspects.
Julie Busch / The Herald
Detectives have spoken to several people, but not everyone is cooperating, said deputy Rich Niebusch, a sheriff’s office spokesman.
Family members were not at home during the search, which lasted about three hours. Investigators wouldn’t say what they were looking for or what items were removed from the house in the 2500 block of 101st Avenue NE.
“We’re just being thorough,” Niebusch said.
Deputies found the girl’s body after receiving a phone call late Jan. 21 that she was unconscious and not breathing.
She had been living with her father, 30, and stepmother, 25, in Lake Stevens since 2003. Before living with them, she had been in foster care.
Child Protective Services had not received any allegations of abuse or neglect involving Sirita and her father and stepmother, said Kathy Spears, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Social and Health Services. State child welfare workers had investigated allegations involving the girl in the past, Spears said.
The state will do a fatality review to determine if all policies and procedures were followed, she said.
Connie Harding of Lake Stevens left flowers and a small teddy bear outside the house on Friday.
“We heard what happened and we wanted to show that we cared about that little girl,” said Harding, who has lived in Lake Stevens for 11 years.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@heraldnet.com.
Julie Busch / The Herald
Deputy prosecutor Matt Baldock leaves the Lake Stevens home where a search warrant was served Friday in the investigation of 4-year-old Sirita Sotelo’s death.
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