Family, northern Alberta community in shock after 7-month-old's homicide

The family of a seven-month-old baby boy who died in High Prairie last week is speaking about their loss.

The grandmother of Oaklan Reid Cunningham told CTV News Edmonton the family rushed to the hospital on Oct. 6 after getting a call from their day home operator that Oaklan was unwell.

He died in hospital.

An autopsy conducted on Oct. 11 found the baby’s death to be a homicide.

Oaklan Reid Cunningham attended this day home in High Prairie for a month before his death.

“Something was wrong, no baby has a bump like this on their head… And has a heart attack,” Rhonda Walter Desjarlais said.

She added that Oaklan’s parents put him in the day home just over a month ago so his mother could go back to school in September.

“He was the best little boy ever.”

“He.. just started crawling… Maybe about four or five days before everything happened.”

She says the family has been shattered by his death.

“Just disbelief knowing we’re never going to be able to hold, hug, kiss and see our little Oaklan.”

Police are remaining tight lipped about the investigation.

RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Deanna Fontaine says Oaklan’s cause of death would not be released for investigative reasons.

“At this point in time there aren’t further details of the investigation that we’re able to share, at some point we may be able to share more information,” she said.

“There are persons of interest in this case that the RCMP are speaking to. At this point in time we’re not asking for assistance from the public or information from the public, but that may change.”

The incident has also rocked the community.

“Shocking, absolutely shocking,” James Waikle said.

“We’re a small community. This affects all of us because if we don’t know them directly we know somebody who does.”

He added the town doesn’t have a daycare and families rely on day homes for childcare.

“We have a lot of the day homes, which is where this tragedy happened at. So there’s questions that need to be answered.”

“We entrust our children to their care, so this is why the investigation by the authorities will be very important to find out exactly what happened.”

An update on the investigation is expected next week.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson and Katie Chamberlain