SALEM, Ind. — A young boy found dead inside a suitcase in a heavily wooded area of southern Indiana has been laid to rest.
Todd Murphy, the chaplain for the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, called the unidentified boy an “unknown angel” during a memorial service Wednesday at the Weathers Funeral Home in Salem, Indiana.
The child’s gray casket was topped with a floral arrangement and stuffed animals.
He was later buried at a Salem cemetery.
His gravestone marker bears the image of an angel and an inscription that reads, “In loving memory of a beloved little boy known but to God.”
A mushroom hunter found the child's body on April 16 in Washington County.
Investigators believe the boy, who was Black, was about 5 years old and had died within the previous week.
WCPO in Cincinnati reported that an autopsy showed the boy died from an electrolyte imbalance and gastroenteritis (inflammation of the stomach and intestines).
No significant injuries were found on the child during the autopsy, according to state police.
