Autopsy Finds That Toddler Was Strangled

Sheriff’s homicide detectives Wednesday continued their investigation into the death of a 16-month-old girl at a Lomita day-care home after an autopsy confirmed that the girl was strangled.

Michele Heasley’s death Monday was ruled a homicide by strangulation with a “ligature,” or flexible object, said Pat Smith, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office.

Sheriff’s officials said earlier in the week that they suspected that the girl had been strangled, although they would not say what type of object was wrapped around her neck.

Investigators said Wednesday that they do not have a suspect in the case, two days after a 19-year-old baby-sitter called paramedics to report that the toddler had stopped breathing.

Michele died at Torrance Memorial Hospital Medical Center on Monday afternoon. Investigators have declined to identify the girl’s parents.

The baby-sitter told investigators that she was caring for the infant and six other children, ranging in age from 3 to 5, at the home on West 262nd Street where the sitter lives with her family, said Sheriff’s Deputy Eric Smith.

The baby-sitter told deputies that the infant was fine when she checked her about 2 p.m. but had stopped breathing when she looked in on her again an hour later.

Another deputy, who asked not to be named, said the baby-sitter is not a suspect in the death.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Social Services said the agency has no record of a license for the home, located on a hillside at the foot of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, or its occupants. The agency said sheriff’s officials identified the occupants as Robert and Linda Zieger.

A state license is required for any facility that cares for children from more than one family not living in the home, Norris said.

Social services investigators inspected the home Monday, but they will not consider whether administrative actions are warranted until the sheriff’s investigation is concluded, said Kathleen Norris, a spokeswoman for the agency.

A man who answered the door at the home this week refused to speak to a reporter, but neighbors said the Ziegers and as many as seven of the couple’s children live in the 2-story home in the middle-class neighborhood.