New Mexico Police Search for Relatives of Dead Boy

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Albuquerque police are going door-to-door again Monday in the neighborhood around a city park where the body of a young boy was found buried in a playground as they search for the child's relatives or caretakers.

"We're canvassing the entire area once again to see if there's the possibility that anyone saw something who wasn't watching the news," Albuquerque police spokesman John Walsh said Monday.

Despite intense media coverage of the case, no one has stepped forward to identify the boy, who was 3 to 5 years old. A preliminary autopsy Saturday also yielded no clues to how the boy died.

Though the boy's family hasn't come forward, the community has stepped in with spiritual and financial support for the child.

Neighbors have left teddy bears, toy trucks, flowers and candles at a makeshift memorial at the playground in Alvarado Park, where a mother playing with her children saw a shoe sticking out of the sand and made the gruesome discovery.

Forensics experts have said the child's body had probably been there no more than 48 hours.

The discovery has stumped police so far because the department has not received any recent reports of missing children. Checks on missing persons reports in other states also have not provided an identity.

The 38-pound boy was wearing a red shirt with the image of a four-wheel drive truck on the front, black nylon pants with red stripes and black shoes. He had short straight black hair and was 3-feet-2 inches tall.

Walsh said the preliminary autopsy determined the child was either "Native American or Hispanic."

For two nights in a row, hundreds of neighbors and others have gathered at the playground for candlelight vigils in honor of the boy and a held a cookout fundraiser.

Two funeral homes have offered free plots and burial services. Neighbors told KRQE-TV they have raised more than $4,000 to pay for a casket.

Medical investigators plan blood and toxicology tests and more advanced pathology techniques to learn more about what happened to the boy.