Monday, Feb. 4, 2019

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- A two-month-old baby found dead inside an Augusta home will be laid to rest Monday afternoon.

Eziah Elari Collier was found dead on a neighbor's couch in January. His mother dropped him off with a friend.

Baby Eziah will be laid to rest at Reid Funeral Home at 314 Laney Walker Boulevard at 4:00 p.m.

The investigation into Eziah's death is ongoing.

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

News 12 at 6/NBC at 7

AUGUSTA (WRDW/WAGT) -- The mother of a two-month-old found dead inside an Augusta apartment says she thought she was leaving her son with her neighbor to babysit, not with an 11-year-old.

Investigators with the Richmond County Sheriffs Office released a new report detailing both the neighbor and the mother of the two-month-old accounts of what happened on Thursday.

According to the report, the neighbor said when her friend Endiya Collier brought the baby over to her house, he was sleeping. The neighbor told investigators Collier asked her to babysit for her, according to the report.

The neighbor told investigators that Collier called her around 8 pm Thursday and asked if the baby was awake and she told her no.

The neighbor told investigators she fell asleep and woke up to check on the baby when she touched him he was cold. The neighbor stated then she called 9-1-1.

News 12 obtained 9-1-1 recordings from Thursday night.

The neighbor can be heard telling dispatchers "I got up out my sleep to come down here and you know, check the baby...because I noticed the baby had been quiet for a very long time. The baby--I can't even say, ma'am. Can you just have somebody come to my house?! Please?"

Baby Eziah's mother, Endiya, says she is stuck at the moment when investigators told her her son passed away.

"Not really believing. I broke down when he got out of the car. Just cried, cried," said Collier.

The incident report from the Richmond County Sheriffs Office says Endiya told investigators the baby was sleeping and she laid him on the couch then left.

Endiya says before leaving she went upstairs to talk to her neighbor.

"I went in her house and I let her know what I was going to do," said Collier.

Richmond County Coroner Mark Bowen says the autopsy won't be complete for Eziah Collier for 14 weeks.

Collier tells News 12 she is planning her son's funeral. She has set up a GoFundMe account to raise money for the funeral.

Tuesday, January 22, 2019

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- News 12 is learning a different side of what may have happened when a 2-month-old baby was found dead.

According to an incident report with the Richmond County Sheriff's Office, the 11-year-old's mother said the infant's mother came over and

asked

her to watch her baby. The baby was sleeping when it got there.

The report also states the baby's mother called the other mother around 8:00 p.m. asking if the baby had woken up, which he hadn't.

The baby's mother told deputies her baby was sleeping when she dropped him off.

The autopsy results are pending at this time.

Monday, January 21, 2019

News 12 at 6/NBC at 7

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- A 2-month-old was found dead in an apartment after being left in the care of an 11-year-old, according to the Richmond County Coroner.

Neighbors and the woman who discovered the baby say the mother of the child dropped her two-month-old off at a neighbor’s apartment.

The woman inside, a mother herself to a newborn, doesn't want to be seen on camera, but she told News 12 she had no idea her neighbors baby was on the couch.

The Richmond County Coroner says baby Eziah Collier was dropped off and left with an 11-year-old.

The mother in this apartment where the baby was left, says she came downstairs to breastfeed her own baby and saw the baby on the couch.

That mother says she saw the child’s foot was blue and called 9-1-1.

She tells News 12 this wasn't a baby-sitting scenario and that no one in the home knew the baby was being dropped off.

She told News 12 her 11-year-old had already gone to sleep when she made the call to police but says when she woke him up, he didn't remember the baby crying or moving.

She says he thought the baby was sleeping.

Investigators say no arrests have been made and they are waiting on the autopsy to be completed, which could take weeks.

7:37 a.m.

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- News 12 is learning more about what happened when an infant died Wednesday.

The Richmond County Coroner's Office says a 2-month-old baby was left in the care of an 11-year-old on the 500 block of Hines Street around 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, January 16th.

The 11-year-old's mother was upstairs sleeping while the child watched the baby. The infant was later found dead on the couch by the 11-year-old's mother.

The body of 2-month-old Eziah Elari Collier was sent to the GBI Crime Lab in Atlanta for an autopsy. DFACS was also notified.

Sunday, January 20, 2019

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) -- The Richmond County Coroner's Office is investigating after a child was found dead in the Allen Homes neighborhood on Thursday.

The Coroner said the child was "just a couple of months old, and was left with a babysitter across the street". The Allen Homes neighborhood is off of Laney Walker Blvd, near New Savannah Road and Hines Street.

According to the Coroner, the child's body has been sent to the GBI Lab for autopsy and results from that autopsy are expected to take quite some time.

Count on News 12 for details as the investigation unfolds.