Savage police are investigating a worker from Rocking Horse Ranch Childcare in the September death of an infant boy.

Police declined to comment on the case citing the ongoing investigation, but an unsealed affidavit for a search warrant showed police are investigating the death as suspicious. The search warrant application also outlines two prior cases of another infant with similar health problems – including one the same day the 11-month-old died.

According to the search warrant application, police learned the employee heard a girl scream during her nap. She burped the girl who threw up a “bloodlike substance.” 

The employee cleaned the girl before putting her back in the crib until noticing the girl turn pale and stop breathing. The employee said she burped the baby, who vomited again, before calling 911.

On Sept. 22, the same employee said she noticed the same little girl was crying. The employee picked her up and burped the girl, who vomited up another “bloodlike substance.” The girl’s parents picked her up from Rocking Horse Ranch.

The same day, the infant boy who later died was put down for a nap. In a separate filing from Rocking Horse Ranch, owner Lisa Weiss said she heard the caretaker under investigation make an “incriminating statement” by saying she heard the boy make a noise, asking Weiss to check on him. Weiss said she was just outside where the boy was sleeping while the caretaker was across the room.

Weiss said she checked on the boy and found him unresponsive. The Rocking Horse Ranch filing noted the employee was “seen acting in a strange manner” when emergency personnel arrived.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy on the boy Sept. 23, not finding any physical injuries or common poisons in the preliminary results. Rocking Horse Ranch also tested the facility for mold, ruling out environmental factors as the source of the symptoms for both infants. The final cause of death has not been released.

The state suspended Rocking Horse Ranch’s license Sept. 23, saying children were at “imminent risk of harm.” The daycare is appealing that decision, saying it would not allow the employee under investigation to continue working if its license suspension were lifted.