A closer look at more than 40 questionable cases in North Carolina that were ruled as SIDS.

2004

Angel, 4 months

Sleeping with mother and sibling on twin beds pushed together at a community shelter. Baby put face down.

Bridgette, 1 month

Repairman found baby dead in bed with mother.

Hannah, 3 months

Baby wrapped in sweaty blanket. Put to bed face down.

Jacob, 1 month

Found in mother’s arm. Both sleeping on couch.

Malik, 4 months

Multiple blankets and pillows in crib. Put face down.

Matthew, 1 month

Mother at foot of bed, baby on one side, boyfriend on the other.

Talia, 1 month

Found on couch surrounded by pillows; mother had prior child abuse conviction.

William, 2 months

“Lots of roaches in the house.” Red marks on baby were roach bites post-mortem. Put face down in bassinet.

Xavier, 20 days

Ten people in house owned by 82-year-old woman who was providing care to underprivileged people. Sleeping with mother on couch.

2005

Alicia, 1 month

Sleeping between mother and father in bed.

Aniyah, 1 month

Found face down in waterbed.

Bradley, 2 months

Amphetamine manufacturing suspected in house. No details about how baby slept.

Davis, 3 months

Conflicting reports about where baby died. Father had lost another baby to SIDS in ’02.

Gabriel, 6 months

Baby found on futon with stuffed animal over face.

Jayden, 1 month

Sleeping on air mattress with an adult; “overlying … cannot be definitively excluded.”

Marcus, 4 months

He “curled up on his side facing his mother in the bed” along with at least one other child.

Matthew, 1 month

Mother and two teen daughters came home from bar about 2 a.m. Mother slept with baby.

Trenton, 3 months

Mother placed infant at father’s feet on couch.

Zoie, 2 months

Baby placed face down in crib. Pathologist wrote cause of death should be undetermined because of previous SIDS death in family.

2006

Aleighsia, 2 months

Family was using pillow for a mattress in the bassinet. Baby found face down.

Ariana, 7 months

Placed on comforter with blanket over her. Found tightly wrapped in comforter.

Hayden, 3 weeks

Baby sleeping with mother and father and found face down. Hospital instructions at birth were for baby to “sleep on back – not in mother’s bed.”

Ja’Vion, 1 month

Found face down on father’s chest.

Joe, 9 days

Sleeping with mother. Baby tested positive for opiates at birth.

Madeline, 3 months

Found at home of 60-year-old babysitter. Report didn’t detail where baby slept. Sitter shot herself when she learned the baby was dead.

Robert, 23 days

Sleeping with mother and father. Parents smoke.

Scott, 9 days

Sleeping with mother and father. Mother said several SIDS deaths in extended family.

Taeqan, 5 months

Parents drank, used marijuana that night. Baby slept with them.

2007

Dani, 1 month

Found sleeping in mother’s armpit; mother suspected of crack use during pregnancy.

Devin, 3 months

Mother placed baby face down on folded blanket on soft leather couch.

Dulce, 4 months

Baby placed on mattress on floor; rolled off onto floor twice that day.

Henry, 2 months

Found dead on air mattress; earlier SIDS in family in 2004.

Jesse, 10 days

Baby lying on sleeping mother’s chest.

Sebastian, 26 days

Baby placed on pillow, in bed with parents and twin.

Travis, 3 months

Baby sleeping in car seat on a bed between mother and father.

2008

Averley, 5 months

Found with blanket or quilt wrapped around baby’s head.

Calviuna, 2 months

Sleeping with mother and father. Mattress was well worn; mother slept in trough.

Camron, 1 month

Baby fed, put to sleep in bouncy seat. Strong tobacco aroma.

Eliza, 3 months

Differing stories about where baby slept. Baby found face down.

Jacoby, 4 months

Sleeping between mother and wall on twin bed.

Jaidah, 1 month

Found face down against padded side of bassinet; mother and investigators concerned about accidental suffocation.

Sincere, 5 months

Baby lying on floor next to pillows and space heater. “A lot of unclear answers from mother and others.”

Zyonnah, 1 month

Baby sleeping with mother, her head on the mother’s arm. Comforter and two pillows on bed.

Source: N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, autopsies and investigative reports