Suicide, Accident, or Murder? Cops Investigating Death of 8-year-old Found Hanging in Closet

Chicago police aren’t sure how an 8-year-old Chicago girl ended up hanging from a belt in her closet in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood.

Paramedics tried to revive Cherish Foster, who was found unresponsive by her mother in their home in the 9200 block of South LaSalle Wednesday night. She was transported to Comer Children’s Hospital, where she died later that night, NBC reports.

The girl’s mother Carmella Evans has said she believes her child’s death to be an accident, that “she was playing” a game that went awry. Evans—who is pregnant—told police she was alerted by her 7-year-old son before discovering her daughter.

She was “just like any other 8-year-old,” her grandfather Todd Evans said of Cherish, and “she don’t even know what suicide is.”

Department of Children and Family Services officials are investigating Evans for allegations of abuse and neglect. Two children have been temporarily placed with a family member under a DCFS-monitored safety plan.

Chicago police are conducting a death investigation.