LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A 3-month-old baby drowned at a motel in Louisville on Jan. 1, and now his only sibling is speaking up for him.
Louisville Metro Police responded to the call at the Motel 6 off Fern Valley Road. It only took about an hour for word to travel to family.
"My grandma told me, she came in my room and told me that he had passed away," Kiyah Winstead, the boy's sister, said.
Sixteen-year-old Kiyah Winstead's 3-month-old brother, Ki’arri, drowned in a tub on New Year's Day.
"The last time I had talked to him, he was cooing at us and moving around; and whenever he would look at me, it's like he recognized my voice, because he would start smiling and making noises. He was precious," Winstead said. "It's really devastating because nobody would want anything like this to happen, especially at such a young age."
Police said it happened just before 4:40 a.m. at the Motel 6 on Airport Hotel Boulevard.
Winstead said her estranged mother was with him.
"I really had no idea that they were even there, because prior, she was living in a sober living. My dad passed away when I was nine, and my mom, me and her have kind of had like an on and off relationship," Winstead said. "There was drug use, and that's why I got taken away from her, and I'm just hoping that this was an accident."
Officers performed CPR until EMS arrived, but Ki'arri died at the scene.
"I just want to see a change. I would never want anybody else to have to go through this. It's not something I would wish on my worst enemy," Winstead said.
Winstead watched her mother give birth to Ki’arri. She never expected to say goodbye just three months later.
"I want justice for him, and that's my main goal in all of this because he didn't get to have his voice, and I want to be able to do that for him," Winstead said.
LMPD said right now there are no charges.
Winstead said she knows it is her mother, but she believes she should be held accountable.
LMPD's Homicide Unit is investigating.
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