None of Dawn Raines-Hewes’ neighbors in Fairfield knew what to think when the woman ran out of her house screaming Tuesday morning.

Police say neighbors peered out their windows, a woman walking by stopped to watch and a driver even pulled over on the narrow residential street out of concern. Many of them called 911.

Those who went inside Raines-Hewes’ home to see what was going on made a shocking discovery -- a 4-year-old boy lay soaking wet and unconscious on the hallway floor.

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Paramedics rushed the boy to a local hospital, where he was declared dead.

Police say that Raines-Hewes, 51, for unknown reasons drowned her grandson in the bathtub at her home on Jefferson Street just before 11 a.m. then moved his body into the hallway. The boy’s sisters, 1 and 6 years old, were in another room. Both were unharmed.

“It was chaotic, very suspicious and unusual,” said Fairfield police Officer Cleo Mayoral. “The conduct and behavior of the grandmother was what immediately drew our attention.”

Mayoral declined to say what Raines-Hewes may have screamed as she ran out of the house or told detectives. He said the boy’s death was clearly not accidental.


Neither drugs nor alcohol appeared to play a role in the incident, he said.

Mayoral said investigators were gathering evidence for possible murder charges against the grandmother. An autopsy has not yet been conducted on the boy and interviews were still pending with other family members, including his sisters and mother, Mayoral said.

Raines-Hewes is being held on $1 million bail on suspicion of murder.

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna.


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