LAKE STEVENS – Snohomish County sheriff’s detectives are investigating the death of a 4-year-old girl as a homicide.
Sirita Sotelo of Lake Stevens died Friday, the county medical examiner said Tuesday. The cause of her death remains under investigation.
Deputies were called about 11:25 p.m. Friday to the 2500 block of 101st Avenue NE, said deputy Rich Niebusch, a sheriff’s office spokesman.
A woman called 911 to report that the child was unconscious and not breathing, he said. Neibusch didn’t know if the woman was Sirita’s mother.
The girl died before deputies arrived. Niebusch wouldn’t say why the death is being investigated as a homicide.
Deputies removed five other children from the house and placed them with Child Protective Services. “We took them for safety reasons,” Niebusch said.
The children, two boys and three girls ranging in age from 11 months to 8 years old, were not injured. He didn’t know what their relation was to Sirita.
No one had been arrested in connection with the girl’s death as of Tuesday evening.
Her death was omitted from sheriff’s reports requested by The Herald over the weekend and on Monday and Tuesday.
Niebusch said he was told to not mention the girl’s death to newspaper, television or radio reporters unless specifically asked about it.
Sheriff Rick Bart is at a homeland security conference in Phoenix and could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Reporter Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463 or hefley@ heraldnet.com.
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