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State Removes 5 From Home

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Action Follows Death Of Boy, 2, Who Was Placed In Foster Care

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The death of a 2-year-old boy who lived in a foster home in Venice has led authorities to remove two other foster children and three of the family's four natural children from the home amid a state investigation, officials said Thursday.No cause of death for Demartez Bolling, 2, has been released by authorities, who say they are awaiting the results of an autopsy and toxicology tests by the pathologist.

Demartez was pronounced dead shortly after noon on June 10 at St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Granite City. His foster parents told the Illinois State Police that he had become ill at home and that they had called an ambulance.

Lt. Wayne Watson, acting zone commander for State Police detectives in Collinsville, said that the foster parents were cooperating with the investigation but that he could not disclose what they said to police.

Ed McManus, director of communications for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, said only the foster parents' oldest child, a 16-year-old boy, was left in the home. The couple's three other children were removed, along with two more foster children; one of them was the 4-year-old sister of Demartez, McManus said.

McManus declined to say why the 16-year-old had not been ordered removed from the home.

He said that the couple had been foster parents for several years and that no other problems had been reported.

Watson said completion of the police investigation was awaiting the autopsy results.  The State Police were called in by the Venice police, Watson said.

He said Demartez had been in the foster home about two months. He said the foster parents' natural children ranged from 9 to 16 years old.

1993 Jun 19