Police looking into infant death
2005-10-03

Athens Police are investigating the death of a 9-month-old infant who may have been inadvertently left in an automobile.

According to police reports, the child, Evan Winkenwender, was brought in an unresponsive state to O'Bleness Memorial Hospital around 6:30 p.m. Thursday by his father, 32-year-old Jeffrey Winkenwender of Albany.

Doctors failed to revive the infant, and under Ohio law, any death of a child under age 2 requires an autopsy.

Athens County Coroner Dr. Scott Jenkinson said Sunday that police have indicated to him that the child's father apparently left the infant in his car accidentally when he got to work. The police, who did not include that information in their official media releases, had referred questions to Jenkinson.

"That's my understanding," Jenkinson said about what happened to the baby. He added that the autopsy results have not yet come back from the Montgomery County Coroner.