GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The Kent County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help investigating another child’s death following the arrest of a Cedar Springs mother for the murder of her 2-year-old daughter.
“We are looking for tips into what we believe was the 2021 murder of Leo Whitehead,” Sheriff Michelle LaJoye-Young said during a press conference Monday.
‘I killed her’: Mom charged with murdering 2-year-old daughter
Irene Whitehead, 27, was arraigned Dec. 1 on felony charges of first-degree child abuse and first-degree murder in the suffocation death of her daughter, Ryleigh. She is now under investigation for allegedly killing her 2-month-old son, Leo, in 2021, LaJoye-Young said.
During the press conference, LaJoye-Young said the similarities between Ryleigh and Leo’s deaths prompted the sheriff’s office to begin investigating Leo’s death as a homicide.
Probable cause documents released by the court include a partial transcription of a Nov. 25 police interview in which Whitehead repeatedly admitted to killing her daughter on Sept. 3 by suffocating her with a bag. She also signed a statement during the interview saying, “I Killed them,” according to the documents — referring to Ryleigh and Leo…