4-year-old boy found trapped in home with dead mother

UNION, N.J. - After realizing the emaciated child inside was too weak to follow their instructions to get on a chair and reach the chain lock keeping them from entering, rescue workers simply kicked in the door.

They found the naked and malnourished 4-year-old boy in an overheated apartment where he had been trapped for days with the decomposing body of his mother, a bag of sugar his only source of food. The child weighed only 26 pounds and may have been neglected before his mother's death, authorities say.

"The only way to describe the little boy was, it was like a scene from World War II, from a concentration camp, he was that skinny," said Officer Joseph Sauer. "I mean, you could see all his bones."

Authorities took the boy, whose name has not been released, to a hospital. He was treated and released Thursday into temporary foster care.

His mother, identified Wednesday as Kiana Workman, 38, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was discovered dead Tuesday on the floor of her bedroom at a tidy, low-rise apartment complex in Union Township, about 15 miles from New York City. Because the chain lock was on, police said, the toddler could not get out.

The apartment belongs to Workman's mother, who is recuperating from surgery at a nursing center, said police, who were unable to track down any other relatives. Officers were called to the apartment after neighbors complained to the maintenance crew about a stench. Police quickly pieced together that the boy had been inside the apartment with his mother's body for days. He had put lotion on his mother, police said, leaving behind handprints in his attempt to help her.

Officer Sylvia Dimenna, who accompanied the boy to the hospital, said he was bright and articulate but tired. "He was quiet," said Dimenna, who helped rescue him. "I just said: 'You're OK. You're OK, buddy, we're going to take care of you.' He just hugged me, and I took him to the ambulance."

The child's first request after being examined, police said, was a grilled cheese sandwich and juice.

Dimenna, a 24-year veteran of the force and about to become a grandmother, stayed by the boy's side in the hospital, watching videos and trying to comfort him. "He said he missed his mommy," she said.

He was well below the normal 40 or so pounds for a child at 4 years old, according to Police Director Daniel Zieser. "It's possible he was improperly cared for before the mother's death. We just don't know yet," Zieser said.

Investigators believe the boy's mother died of natural causes, as the door was locked from the inside and the windows were secured, Zieser said. The boy could not say how long his mother had been dead.

Police initially estimated she had been dead five days before the discovery was made, but Zieser said it may have been two to three. Apparently nobody had talked to her for about a week.

Autopsy results are pending. The boy was not strong enough to open the refrigerator and was unable to open a can of soup. Police said he told them he had been eating from a bag of sugar.

Police said they were getting calls from around the world from people offering to adopt the child or donate money or toys.

Police said they were trying to find someone in the family capable of taking care of the boy, including a brother of Workman's believed to live out West. But ultimately, he said, it would be up to the state's child welfare agency to determine placement.