`She was a wonderful little girl' - The Loves Park toddler is buried a month before her second birthday

The Loves Park toddler is buried a month before her second birthday.

By GERI NIKOLAI

Rockford Register Star

The Loves Park toddler whose death is being investigated by state and local authorities came halfway around the world to a home in northern Illinois.

The child, Chinese-born Esther Scudder, was buried Friday, a week after her death. Police statements said suspicious bruises were on her body.

The funeral occurred not much more than a month before the little girl would have marked her second birthday.

Her mother is Sandra Scudder, 53, a clerk at the Loves Park post office who also adopted another child from China.

The older girl, Bethany, 5, has been removed from the Scudder home and is staying with relatives, said Andy Martinez, a spokesman for the state Department of Children and Family Services.

DCFS is investigating Esther's death, along with Loves Park police and the Winnebago County State's Attorney's Office.

An autopsy was performed June 17, but at week's end, officials refused to release a cause of death or describe the circumstances.

Loves Park police were called to the Scudder home at 7:12 p.m. June 13.

They found Sandra Scudder administering mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the girl, who was struggling to breathe.

Esther was taken to SwedishAmerican Hospital and transferred to Rockford Memorial, where she died at 3:07 p.m. June 14.

Initially, police said the girl had bruises on her body that appeared to be more severe than what a 2-year-old gets from playing or running around. Since then, authorities have said little other than the investigation is continuing.

"We are trying to collect all the physical evidence," said Police Chief Pat Carrigan, who added that process could take a week or so.

First Deputy State's Attorney David Koski refused to elaborate.

"The case is under investigation, and we're not sure what direction it's going to go," he said. "We don't have all the information yet to make an assessment. Certain things can only be gathered at a certain speed."

Koski said Friday afternoon that he had not seen a written report of the autopsy.

No information was released about the adoptions. Martinez said the Scudder home was licensed as a foster home in 1997 as part of the adoption process.

Approached by a Register Star reporter Thursday, Scudder declined to talk about her daughter, other than to say "She was a wonderful little girl, so very special."

Esther was born in Hunan Province, China. She was buried in Sunset Memorial Park in Loves Park.

Memorials may be sent to North Love Baptist Church.

Contact: gnikolai@smtp.registerstar tower.com 815-987-1337.