Background: West Allis police officers investigate after a child is found unresponsive outside of a Dairy Queen in West Allis, Wisconsin (WTMJ/YouTube). Inset: Dante Campbell (GoFundMe).
A woman and man have been arrested in the death of a 4-year-old boy who was found “unresponsive” outside of a Wisconsin Dairy Queen.
The 31-year-old woman and 21-year-old man have not yet been named by authorities, but as of Monday, they remained in police custody, the West Allis Police Department announced. According to local reporting, they are the mother of young Dante Campbell and her boyfriend.
On Saturday morning, the couple pulled up to a friend of Dante”s mom to drop off the child’s twin sister, according to court records reviewed by Milwaukee-based Fox affiliate WITI. It was here that the mother is said to have made a startling comment.
“I need to go to the hospital my son is not breathing, I think he is dead,” someone heard the mom say, per investigators. The vehicle she was in subsequently sped off.
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Law enforcement would be involved soon after. The West Allis Police Department reported that around 8 a.m. that day, its dispatch center got a call from a woman “indicating that she was driving to the hospital with her son who was unresponsive.”
The dispatcher is said to have asked the woman to stop the car given that there was a West Allis Fire Department station nearby. As the woman agreed and pulled into the parking lot of an area Dairy Queen, the dispatcher gave the woman instructions on how to do CPR, authorities said.
Personnel with the fire department arrived minutes later “and began rendering care to the child.” They were followed by police officers, and authorities brought Dante to the hospital. He was later pronounced dead.
Detectives began investigating what happened that led to the child’s death — and the man and woman were subsequently arrested “pertaining to their involvement in this incident,” the police department said.
The investigation has included speaking with both the mother and her boyfriend. The woman reportedly told police that her boyfriend had been watching her children, and he was “heavy-handed” with his discipline.
According to the man, he found Dante that morning “stiff” because the boy had fallen down a flight of stairs the previous evening, noting that the child “smelled bad,” per WITI. Investigators appeared skeptical, reportedly believing the boy’s bruises were not consistent with a fall down the stairs.
Inside the home where Dante was staying were three other kids, authorities said, and a bathroom in the residence is said to have had a “strong smell of rubbing alcohol” while the kids’ bedroom had the “smell of urine.”
Dante was in the care of other guardians up until recently, local NBC affiliate WTMJ reported, with other family members saying he had been living with relatives like Rosy Hudson — a woman who described herself as Dante’s aunt — until returning to his mom’s care.
Police said as of Monday that they were not looking for any other suspects in Dante’s death. The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office told Law&Crime that the investigation is ongoing and charges are still being considered.
A GoFundMe for Dante said “he was taken from us over this last weekend by the very people that were supposed to keep him safe in what we can only compare to a true crime documentary.”
It added: “Dante was a happy and loving boy that deserved so much better than what happened to him. He loved life and had the most amazing smile and laugh. His memory will forever live on with those of us who truly loved and cared for him.”
