Toddler dies of injuries

Nicole Paseka

MACY, NEB. -- Olivia Saunsoci slept with her newborn grandson the first night after he was born so his mother could get some rest. On Tuesday, Olivia Saunsoci watched over her grandson's tiny white coffin so his mother could shop in preparation for his funeral.

The grandmother carefully lifted a white net over the child's coffin, asking visitors if they wanted to "see the baby." Twenty-month-old Nathaniel Saunsoci-Mitchell looked as if he were taking an afternoon nap, accompanied by a stuffed Winnie-the-Pooh doll, his face shaded by a blue Adidas baseball cap.

But the baseball cap did not hide the bruises on Nathaniel's round cheeks, nor the bite-mark on his nose.

Nathaniel, son of Jackie Saunsoci, 18, and Nathan Mitchell, died Sunday at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. The toddler was not residing with either of his parents or family members when the injuries that led to his death occurred.

"Although formal results are pending, it was determined that the child's death was not from natural causes. The child's body did show evidence of trauma," Dakota County officials said in a news release.

Nathaniel was treated at Mercy Medical Center on Friday in Sioux City, then airlifted to Omaha. The toddler was living with a foster family in South Sioux City prior to his death.

Although the Dakota County Attorney's Office reported in a news release that Nathaniel was residing with an "Omaha Tribe foster family," the boy's grandmother said his foster parents were not members of the Omaha Nation nor the Winnebago Nation.

No criminal charges have been filed against the foster parents, which has deeply disturbed the Saunsoci family.

The grandmother said Nathaniel was "bleeding from the brain" and was brain-dead when he first arrived at the hospital. In addition to the head injuries, he had breaks on both sides of his collar bone, Saunsoci said. One of his legs was broken and already in a cast, and there was a bite-mark, apparently from a dog, that Nathaniel had endured several weeks ago, the grandmother said.

Nathaniel's death has "caused a lot of panic on the reservation," Olivia Saunsoci said, adding that parents whose children are in foster care have been calling frantically to check on their well-being.

Nathaniel suffered from asthma and was removed from the care of Olivia Saunsoci's daughter, Jackie Saunsoci, while his mother went through rehabilitation for drug and alcohol abuse. He temporarily lived with Tiara Saunsoci, another daughter of Olivia Saunsoci's. Nathaniel was removed from her home due to medical reasons, his grandmother said.

From there, Nathaniel went to live with foster parents in South Sioux City who had five other foster children, according to Olivia Saunsoci.

"They should have never removed him from the reservation," Olivia Saunsoci said.

She cast a glance at numerous family members who sat at the Native American Church in Macy, Neb., circling around Nathaniel's coffin.

"There's no reason why he couldn't have been placed with someone here," she said.

Relatives described Nathaniel as a good-spirited, intelligent baby who made everyone fall in love with him. He loved to sing and dance and knew the basics of baby sign-language.

"He looked just like his mom, Jackie," said Justin Saunsoci, 19, a first-cousin of Jackie Saunsoci.

Nathaniel had dark locks and beautiful eyelashes anyone would envy.

"He had really long, curly hair, and they just chopped it all off," Olivia Saunsoci said, referring to Nathaniel's foster parents. That was part of the reason he wore the little blue Adidas baseball cap, she said.

Throughout the afternoon, children's toys and flowers piled up beside Nathaniel's coffin.

Olivia Saunsoci wants some good to come from Nathaniel's death. She would like to see legislation enacted so no child of the Omaha Nation can be removed from the reservation again.

Visitation continued all day and all night Tuesday and today. Burial will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at the Omaha Indian Cemetery in Macy, followed by a traditional dinner at the Alfred Gilpin Building in Macy.

Just as on the night after his birth, Olivia Saunsoci slept near her grandson on Tuesday night, refusing to leave the Native American Church.

Journal staff writer Nicole Paseka can be reached at 712-293-4276 or nicolepaseka@siouxcityjournal.com.