He's gone. He's stiff. Baby go.
[Applause]
That is your grandson lying there dead
on the couch. Look at that. No. Look at
that. No. No. No. I prayed with your
daughter over your dead grandson.
When a 5-year-old boy suddenly dies
under mysterious circumstances,
investigators in Dayton, Ohio,
desperately search for an explanation.
What's more important to you? Someone
getting in trouble or the fact that your
grandson is dead.
Then prove it or walk out that door. The
following report is based on official
police records, and the footage has
never been seen before until now. On the
morning of Saturday, March 30th, 2024,
Dayton dispatchers receive a chilling
911 call. A child had died in his sleep.
He went to sleep as as he is. Please
come, please. Ma'am, ma'am, ma'am,
ma'am, ma'am. What is going on with your
child? He laid down, went to sleep, and
I was on the couch with him. Me and my
um little he's my grandson, and
he maybe he won't wake up. He's cold as
ice. His nose was bleeding. and I wiped
his nose and he he didn't move. Okay,
ma'am. How How old is he? Five. I was
babysitting him and he's cold as I He's
cold. He won't move. There's no
breathing at all or anything? No.
Nothing. Nothing. Nothing at all. Oh,
please. I called his mom. He on his own
on the way. Oh, God. There's somebody
coming. Yes. Stephanie as we could. We
had help on the way. Okay. Okay. We're
going to do what we can to help you.
Okay. Okay. Thank you. The child would
later be identified as 5-year-old
Charles Anthony Brown. Police and
paramedics arrived to the scene, but it
quickly becomes clear that the young boy
is beyond any hope of resuscitation.
He's
too gone. He's stiff.
When was the last time you saw him? 10
or 15 minutes ago. You're not calling.
No. No. When was the last time you saw
him moving?
Went to sleep and then we all went to
sleep. Then I What time was that?
I can't remember.
I guess 10 or 11. 10 or 11 last night.
Yeah. Okay. An officer speaks with the
child's grandmother, 58-year-old
Stephanie Shanks, who was babysitting
the three grandchildren while their
mother was at work. Does he have any
health issues or anything? No, he wasn't
exactly. And you said you saw him last
night? Yes. About 10. And he went in
that position and then that's where he
was at. And then I seen some So when you
saw him, he was sleeping. No, I got up
this morning. I wiped his nose and
something coming out his nose. Okay. So
about 10 still in the toilet. I put it
in the toilet. I didn't flush it. He
didn't he didn't
And I called his mama. And how old is
he? Five.
Oh, his mama's coming.
Is this brother and sister? Twins.
They're twins? Yes. How old are they?
Five. Five.
How was he? Three. Three. Oh, he had
nose bleeds, but that's
it. That's it. He had no nose breathing
or
nothing. He had no feet. Charles sudden
death leaves officers searching for
answers, but any hope of an explanation
must wait for investigators who are on
their way to the scene. For now,
officers outside share their thoughts on
the devastating situation. Typically,
I'm one to like jump offering to go.
This was one that I really didn't want.
Yeah, I was like literally holding my
breath like, "Please don't. Please
don't." I knew it was coming. I don't
know who it is. I didn't see the kid.
Well, when you just had a kid, last
thing you want to do is go on a dead kid
call.
It don't get any easier. Yeah. We got to
wait for mom to get here and then we got
to call mom enough to get info on the We
only know his name.
Grandpar, they stay the night here.
don't live here. Um, no. So, they were
just visiting, supervising the kid.
Probably babysitting some of the fine.
Once we get the information, I'll call
the corner. I'm sure he'll want to come
out. Wildly unusual. Suddenly, an
unidentified male approaches the scene
and is stopped by officers who've been
instructed not to let anyone inside.
Hello. Do you know them inside of there?
Yeah. Uh, how do you know them? Are you
neighbors or something? That's my girl.
It's my girl kids. Okay. Okay. Uh uh so
so uh who who are you to them? I'm her
I'm her her daughter's boyfriend. Yeah.
Unfortunately, nobody can go in there
right now. So seconds later, the mother
of the three children, including the
deceased 5-year-old boy, races toward
the home.
Why? Sorry, you can't go inside. I can't
go inside.
Come here. Come here. Come here. Come
here. Please. I just want to be my baby.
Please. No. No. He said we're not
letting her. Um.
Oh my god. We'll have to talk to her.
Huh? Well, we'll have to say he woke up
like this. I don't know. My
god. Please let me go be my baby.
Is that correct? 32 weeks. Yes. Okay.
Any any other medical issues? No. No
complications? None. Thank you.
I'm sorry. Baby go. Yeah.
Inside the house, the grandmother agrees
to sign a consent to search the home and
investigators are brought up to speed on
the situation. Grand put him down at bed
10:11 last night. It's when she last saw
him out here sleeping on the couch. um
this morning before she
called said his like she described as a
bloody nose, wiped it up, the tissues
are still in the toilet and um noticed
he wasn't responding. Called 911. Oh
god. Um just kind of looks like he
aspirated. Does everyone live here or
grandma's babysitter? Grandma watch the
kids every weekend, she says. Okay. She
was sleeping on the couch with the two
boys. I think she said the girl was
asleep in the bed. She was sleeping on
the couch with him. She said she was on
the couch. After completing their
search, investigators uncover a shocking
clue that may explain Charles's sudden
death, which lands Stephanie in an
interrogation room. Before confronting
her with their findings, they first
question her about the events of the
previous day. She explains that she
usually watches the children every
Saturday and Sunday while their mother
works, but this time she took them in on
Friday morning because their daycare was
closed for Good Friday. She describes
their day and evening as typical, where
the children played in and out of the
home until nightfall, 10 or 10:30 or 11,
something like that. Blue Charles came
and said, "Bro, I'm tired. I'm sleepy."
I said, "Well, get up on the couch and
lay down and go to sleep."
What did he look like when he said I was
tired?
He didn't really look I mean he looked
tired in eyes but he looked like you
know nothing I would notice. Was he
acting weird? Was he like stumbling or
maybe like nodding off? No, he was he
was just just tired. Just moving slow.
Wasn't noding off? No. Okay. Okay.
Stephanie gives one of the investigators
permission to go through her phone while
the other prepares to confront her with
what they found inside her home. Can you
help me understand all the straws and
stuff that are laying around and the
white powder and substances that are
laying around? Well, it was from um me
doing boy earlier then. But it wasn't me
doing boy now. Okay. You doing boy
earlier as when?
Um Friday. And just for clarification,
boys, correct? Uh-huh. Okay. Okay. When
on Friday were you doing that? Uh that
morning. That morning. before they got
there. What around what time? Um
about 7:00. I had had it that night, but
I did it that morning cuz I had didn't
know I had to wash the kids. I thought I
had to wash them at Second. Yeah. You
thought you had an extra day? Yeah, I
did. So, I did it. Based on the evidence
and her own admission, the investigator
poses a devastating theory. I think that
Charles overdosed. No, he didn't
overdose.
That's That's my suspicion. All right.
Now, now we're going to find out some
more when he goes through an autopsy.
All right. We're going to find out some
more from his blood results. But it
wasn't nothing in there when he went
into the bedroom. I had all did it all.
It was nothing but dust on the thing.
That's all that was on him. So, when was
he in there? He wasn't in there. He was
not in
there. The little girl, she went in
there late that night. It was gone then.
Mhm. And it was all off the straws and
everything. I licked the straws. I
didn't have my money. Mhm. That's why I
I did that. When did you lick the
straws?
3 days before. 3 days before. Yeah. Cuz
there I'll be honest, there was
residue in the cigarette pack that you
had with the
straw on the table. But it wasn't
nothing in the cigarette pack. I
honestly I I'll tell you the truth. And
and here's the thing, like I know that
there might not be very much or not an
amount that you would ever pay for or
not enough amount that you would
consider to be anything, but you you and
I both know that drugs to an adult,
drugs to someone who uses regularly,
that's going to be a different amount
than someone who's small. Now, you might
have had it on your fingers, you might
have had it on that table, you might
have had it on other things, but the
thing is is that you regularly have
heroin in that apartment. Is that
accurate? Yes, that's accurate. Yeah.
And
go ahead. But it wasn't nothing in
there. But but dust in there. But how
could Dusk even do anything to him? And
so we say heroin. It's not the heroin
that we are talking about from, you
know, the '90s. You know, there's so
many different forms of opioids that are
killing people. And ultimately we will
probably find out that this is some type
of fentanyl. So it doesn't you don't
have to have grams to kill micrograms
especially for someone who is only 30
lb. It's a it's a huge amount. Despite
the explanation, Stephanie still seems
to struggle with accepting the
possibility. If we find that there's
some heroin, correct? If we find heroin
in his body, would you agree with me
that you're okay? We're going to do all
that. We're going to pull his blood and
we're going to identify what substances
are in his body. Okay? But I can tell
you that he didn't just die this morning
based on how he looked. His body had
already started to
decompose. He had been dead for some
time. The investigator questions
Stephanie about where she obtained the
substances. She claims she purchased
them from a man named Greg, but her
reluctance to share more information
about him causes the interrogation to
grow increasingly more intense. You want
to give me some more information about
Greg?
Well, I don't know. I don't know him
that way. How do you get a hold of him?
I I just don't I don't know. Here's
here's the thing here. Here's kind of
what's going to change my opinion about
you, okay? And I'm just going to be real
honest, all right? because I saw your
daughter's broken heart when she saw her
her deceased her dead son who had been
dead for hours. Okay. I saw your
grandson who had been dead for hours.
Hours earlier, neighbors, friends, and
family stood witness to the grieving
mother's reaction when her son's body
was moved to the coroner's van. Oh no.
Oh my god.
Please no.
Nobody. No.
Nobody. No.
No. Get off of me. Get off of
me. Stephanie gives investigators a
street name, but no exact address along
with a vague physical description.
However, a startling discovery on her
phone shifts the investigation
dramatically, casting doubt on
everything she said about Greg. Open
your phone. Who is Bon HD? I I don't
know what it And you called somebody
named
Bonk/HD. I don't know who Dave is. I
don't know who Dave is. You called him
four times yesterday between 7:40 a.m.
and 11:00 a.m. As one investigator steps
out of the room to take a closer look at
the phone, the other continues to press
Stephanie for the truth. On a on a
certain level, I don't care about your
drug habit. What I care about is Charles
is dead. Charles is over at the corner's
office right now. Dead when I hear about
autopsy. Well, he's dead, right? Yes.
He's dead. Yes. He died in your
apartment. Yes. Okay. So, if we're going
to sit in here and talk,
I want you to be truthful about things
or walk out that door.
Okay. I just looked at the phone. You
text HD as well. Mhm. To buy heroin. To
what? To buy heroin. You're really
starting to make me mad again. The store
is always open. like he's totally done.
Phenomenal job telling you that you can
walk out here anytime. You buy drugs
with bonk
HD. You're lying. You being dishonest is
not going to get you anywhere. There is
a dead child, your grandbaby. But for
God's sake, for I prayed with your
daughter over your dead
grandson. Your dead grandson. And you're
lying about buying drugs.
[Music]
Are you kidding me? Do you love your
grandbabies? Love them. Do you? Then
prove it or walk out that door
consistently. You lie and then we have
to confront you with what we know and
then we tell us the truth. Trouble. It
doesn't matter. There's a dead There's a
dead baby. There's a dead baby. Then you
for trying not to get yourself in
trouble. But we have to look at this.
That is your grandson lying there dead
on the couch. Look at that. No. Look at
that. No. No. No. Because of your
actions and you're still sitting here
trying to deflect the truth. No, I'm
not. I'm not. The lights are on. No. The
truth will come out in this
room. Someone will be held responsible
for this dead child.
It's
unacceptable. And what frustrates me the
most is that you are unwilling to take
accountability for what has happened.
You have given us partial truth.
That's not okay. With confusion over
Greg and the mysterious contact in her
phone. The investigator presents her a
final ultimatum. Here's the thing. At at
the end of this, at the end of
this, my partner and I, you whenever
you're done, we're going to walk out of
this room. All right. We're going to go
back to our families. All
right. Charles is over there
alone in a
bag. And tomorrow morning, my partner
and I are going to come in here on
Easter morning, resurrection
day, and we're going to watch the
examiners examine your grandchild's
baby, your grandchild's
body. All right? I'm not worried
about people getting in trouble and all
this. All right? What I'm worried about
is the truth. And actions have
consequences. You know that. That's why
you've been lying to us. No, I've been
lying cuz I didn't want to get know
nobody in trouble. What's more important
to you? Someone getting in trouble or
the fact that your grandson is dead?
Then prove it or walk out that
[Music]
door. Prove it or walk out.
Or we can close this door and we can
talk about the truth for the sake of
Charles over there who's alone.
What do you want to do? Choosing to
stay, Stephanie finally reveals the
truth. Hey, my regular drugs buyer. He's
your regular drug buyer. So, I can
ignore what you said about Greg at the
store. That was a lie. Yes. Okay.
So, yesterday you had the case. Yes. And
you got some drugs in the morning before
they were there. Yes. But then you tried
to get more drugs what was different
that you were trying to get more drugs
because and the kids were there because
I wasn't feeling too good. I wasn't
feeling well. Like do I'm sick. Yeah.
Despite her admission, the only way to
be certain is to review the results of
Charles's autopsy and toxicology report.
You know, science takes a minute, right?
So when we get those results, when we
get your results and it says that you
know that you have maybe some heroin and
some fentanyl in your system, you're not
going to be surprised, right? No. When
we find that in his
system, what are you going to tell me?
What are you going to tell Charles?
That I
had my fault I killed him. A post-mortem
toxicology report for 5-year-old Charles
Anthony Brown ruled his cause of death
as intoxication by fentinol and other
illegal substances. According to his
death certificate, the approximate time
between the onset of exposure and death
would have been minutes. On his death
certificate, the manner of death is
listed as an accident. 58-year-old
Stephanie Shanks pleaded guilty to
felony involuntary manslaughter as well
as two misdemeanor charges of
endangering children and was sentenced
to four to six years in prison.