Calgary police’s homicide unit announced Friday it is investigating the death of a 21-month old girl who died in a private dayhome last year.
On Friday, police ruled the death of Mackenzy Woolfsmith as suspicious based on new medical evidence.
The toddler suffered critical injuries following an incident at a local private dayhome on May 2, 2012. She died in hospital the following day.
“The new medical evidence that we have is that the victim suffered multiple, blunt force trauma injuries that resulted in her death,” homicide unit Staff Sgt. Doug Andrus told reporters during a press conference on Friday.
“The homicide unit is now treating this as a suspicious death investigation,” he said. “The injuries are inconsistent with what we were told during the early stages of this investigation.”
Police said the injuries are not consistent with a short or accidental fall down a set of stairs.
Andrus added that the Office of the Medical Examiner provided the cause of death, which was then supported by multiple experts who consulted with investigators.
He said the only person who had access to the child before her death has stopped co-operating with investigators.
In a statement released on Friday, investigators in the case said they are re-interviewing neighbours and witnesses as part of the investigation.
Dan and Jennifer Woolfsmith, the child’s parents, said they are still waiting for answers.
“We want the truth for Mackenzy regardless of how hard it is for us or our families,” they said in a statement released Friday.
“Nothing will lessen our heartache over the loss of our little girl, but we do want closure around her death so that we can focus on remembering her and the wonderful times we had as a family, as well as raising her new little brother. We miss Mackenzy every moment of every day.”
Police are asking anyone with information about this case to contact Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477.
With files from CTV Calgary and The Canadian Press
