Baby Suffocates After Mom Dies, Collapses on Him

A double tragedy in Tempe, Arizona, where a man woke up after working a late shift to find his wife and newborn son dead downstairs. The body of Larinique Meadows, 38, was on top of 4-month-old Denari Meadows; authorities believe the mother suffered a fatal heart attack and collapsed on her baby, suffocating him. "It is a very, very tragic incident," a detective with the Tempe Police Department says, per AZFamily.com. Meadows' husband, who had last seen his wife and son around 11am Saturday before going to sleep, called police around 5pm that same day.

Larinique Meadows had been researching chest pain on her phone at the time of her death; there were no signs of foul play nor any trauma to the infant's body, the Arizona Republic reports. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner will determine the official causes of death. It's not clear whether Meadows had any prior medical conditions. "Father seems to be very hardworking," the detective says. "Trying to provide for his family. Works nights. Ran some errands that morning for the family—specifically for the baby—so it's just a very tragic situation and we mourn for them." (In a similarly devastating story, a baby choked to death after his mom died while feeding him.)