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“He likely passed before he was placed at the church,” Hunter said, noting a blanket found at the scene may have been used to cover the toddler and hide him from view.

Photo by Shaughn Butts / Postmedia

Crier and Mack — who officers said Monday were the child’s guardians — were arrested Saturday night after being on a city bus in northwest Edmonton. Police earlier that day released security photos from a nearby Beaumaris Sobeys store taken April 17 that showed a couple pushing a stroller.

On Monday morning, both Crier and Mack made brief court appearances via CCTV. Crier was calm, standing with arms crossed and answered with a clear “Yes” when asked a question by the judge. Mack kept her eyes lowered and arms crossed, choking up as she responded to questions in court.

Both Crier and Mack remained in custody Monday and neither had retained a lawyer. The case was adjourned until May 8, and the judge ordered Crier and Mack have no contact with one another unless legal counsel is present.

A GoFundMe page raising money for the boy’s funeral identified the boy’s mother as Dalyce Raine from the Louis Bull reserve, a First Nations community south of Edmonton.

“This sweet little man was not registered with our band, so we are fundraising to make a beautiful service,” reads the GoFundMe page, which by Monday morning had raised over $5,600.

Photo by Bloom, David / Postmedia

A wake in his mother’s home community of Louis Bull Cree Nation at Maskwacis, about 90 km south of Edmonton, was held Monday.

On Sunday, as Rev. Jon Connell led an hour-long service inside the Good Shepherd Anglican Church, a steady stream of people visited a makeshift shrine for the dead child on the northern edge of the building.

Inside the church, Connell told more than three dozen parishioners that the case is a “devastating tragedy and loss of life that should never happen.”

On Monday, Anglican Bishop Jane Alexander asked for prayers for the child and said a vigil will be held from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at the church, 15495 Castle Downs Rd.

Everyone was welcome to attend, to light a votive candle or to sit for a time of prayer or silence and remember the little boy, said Alexander, attending a conference in London this week.

With files from CP

pparsons@postmedia.com

cclancy@postmedia.com