Final Farewell Held For Boy Who Died In Homestead Daycare Case

HOMESTEAD (CBS4) – It was a final farewell Saturday for Dominque Andrews-- the toddler who died at a day care center in Homestead.

Friends and family of 22-month-old Andrews crowded the pews of the Covenant Missionary Baptist Church in Florida City Saturday morning for the funeral service to honor a life which they said was taken all too soon.

"I hate that he had to go so soon," said Andrew's cousin Nichole Fluitte. "I'm just happy to see family together and I love him."

His uncle Fred Brown said the family is trying to cope with his death.

"Paw Paw's did not (die) in vain," he said. "God had a reason for it."

But as the family tries to make sense of this loss questions still linger about how and why Andrews, also known as Paw Paw, went to The Jomiba Learning Center day care and never came home.

His teenage parents are devastated.

His uncle Fred Brown told CBS4's Silva Harapetian, "One thing that we have learned from his whole ordeal is to put family first. We thank God for Paw Paw because he draw a lot of the family together."

Sources told CBS4′s Jim DeFede that prosecutors and police are looking at possible charges against a number of people in the death of the toddler  last week at the Jomiba Learning Center.

That investigation is being complicated by conflicting statements from the uncle of the toddler. CBS4 has learned from sources that he is the only person to place the victim, Dominicue Andrews, inside the daycare center.

CBS4 learned that investigators have interviewed all of the witnesses and no one else inside the daycare remembers seeing the child inside the daycare last Tuesday.

Sources said police and prosecutors believe the child never left the van that morning and died inside the van after the driver said he failed to take a head count.

Preliminary autopsy results showed the child died from asphyxiation, which is consistent with being left in a hot van. It means he could not breathe. Temperatures that day were in the 90s. It was much hotter inside the van.

Sources told CBS4 autopsy results showed that there were no Cheerios inside the child's stomach or any other breakfast cereal. That directly contradicts the uncle's statement that he saw the child eating that cereal inside the daycare.

CBS4′s Peter D'Oench caught up with the uncle, Fabian Hall, in Florida City.

"Are you sure you saw the child in the daycare?" D'Oench asked him. "I'm sure, but I can't talk about it." he told D'Oench. He apparently has been told not to discuss the discrepancies.

He did tell CBS4 he wanted "justice" in this case.

Last Thursday, he told CBS4, "What concerns me the most is that I saw my nephew at 9 a.m. when I dropped my son off at the school. What concerned me is how he got back in the van. How did he get back there when the Supervisor admitted that she carried him in to the class and I saw him in the class."

Sources said no charges are expected this week, and possibly not even next week. It's not clear if the conflicting statements from the uncle will delay the filing of charges.

Those sources said authorities are looking at charging more than the driver of the van. They are looking at who else may have been responsible for the child's safety. They said they want to make sure the investigation is thorough before making a decision.

The toddler's loved ones told D'Oench they are waiting for answers.

"We really just want to bury him and get some justice," said Charlise Bryant, the toddler's aunt. "We want to find out what happened and why. We really don't know exactly what happened."

"It's sad because this was a baby who never got a chance in life," said Atila Bryant, the toddler's grandmother. "I really want to know what happened to my grandbaby."

Charlise Bryant told CBS4 that there would be a viewing for the toddler on Friday night between 6 and 8 pm at the Covenant Missionary Baptist Church. She said Dominicue would be buried after an 11 a.m. service on Saturday at the same church in Florida City.

The Jomiba Learning Center remains closed pending an investigation by DCF and Miami-Dade Police. Authorities have still not named the driver of the van.

Records show that the only person authorized to drive a Jomiba van is the 24-year-old owner, Misael Ramos. But family members say Ramos was not the driver of the van.

Ramos has not been available for comment.

Attorneys for Andrews' family have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the daycare, saying that the facility was negligent and failed to protect the toddler. The lawsuit also claimed that workers were improperly trained and supervised.