DETROIT – The mother and stepfather of a 7-year-old Detroit boy who died Thursday are in custody on suspicion of child abuse.
Immanuel Foster was brought to Henry Ford Hospital Thursday morning where he was pronounced dead. He had bruises on his body. The bruises were consistent with child abuse. Moreover, the boy was malnourished and weighed just 27 pounds.
"When I see a kid who is almost 8 and weighs 27 pounds, I have a problem with that," said Deputy Police Chief Steve Dolunt.
-- Immanuel Foster
Police believe the boy was the victim of child abuse, but are waiting on an autopsy report to determine the exact cause of death.
The boy was being cared for by the 27-year-old boyfriend of his mother, who also was his stepfather. That man's father is Allen Rimson, who owns the house where the child was staying.
"He was up this morning sick, throwing up and messing through the house and everything. And then (my son) said that he had stopped breathing, and was trying to resuscitate him," said Rimson. "So he called EMS."
Rimson, who does not live in the house, said the boy injured himself last Sunday.
"He was running to the bathroom and tripped and fell in the bathroom and hit his head on the sink ... he had a cut on his eye," said Rimson.
He said the boy was not checked by a doctor. He also said his son would physically discipline Immanuel. Rimson said the boy had a bad habit of eating uncooked meat, such as hot dogs, and his son disciplined him for it.
"Sometimes with his hand, sometimes with a belt. That's how we were raised," said Rimson.
He said the 7-year-old was not in school and that his son has been caring for the boy because the boy's mother has been gone for two months.
"He took care of him, the best he could," said Rimson.
Kimberly Wilburn, Immanuel's aunt, said his mother left him with someone she trusted.
"That baby was tortured. Shouldn't nobody have to live like that. She really trusted him. That's somebody she trusted. She didn't just leave him with somebody she didn't know. She knew him," said Wilburn.
The mother recently moved to Saginaw. Now, she's in custody.
The boyfriend's family said he was alone caring for Immanuel and two younger children.
"She would do that often ... she would leave him for a couple weeks, sometimes a month," said Rimson.