Milwaukee

Boy’s death at church ruled a homicide

An autistic 8-year-old boy who died after he was wrapped in sheets during a prayer service suffocated, the medical examiner’s office said Monday. The death was ruled a homicide.

Terrance Cottrell Jr. died because his chest was somehow restricted and could not expand, according to a statement issued by the office of the Milwaukee County coroner.

A man had been arrested in connection with the death on Friday. Police have not identified him, but David Hemphill Sr., bishop of the Faith Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith, said the man is his brother, Ray, another minister.

The boy’s mother had been taking her son to the church three times a week for the last three weeks in hopes of curing his autism, David Hemphill said. After more than an hour of prayer Friday, a parishioner noticed the boy was no longer moving and called emergency workers, Hemphill said.

Phoenix

Couple accused of caging sons

A couple were arrested on child abuse charges for allegedly keeping their 5-year-old twin sons locked in filthy, makeshift cages for several hours a day.

Police found the boys Saturday after their older brother told officers at a grocery store about the squalid living conditions. When police arrived at the home they found the children inside two cribs that had been wired together and sealed by plastic crates. Roaches filled the cages, which contained a blanket and small mattress stained with feces and urine.

Louis and Etelvina Rodriguez of Phoenix were arrested on suspicion of child abuse and kidnapping.

Etelvina Rodriguez, 42, told police her husband wanted the boys locked up because he had health problems. She and her husband each were being held on $243,000 bond.

Georgia

Temporary mosque destroyed in fire

A weekend blaze destroyed a house being used as a mosque, just three weeks after someone fired a gun into a garage door at the home, officials and religious leaders said.

Fire officials in Savannah have labeled the fire early Sunday as suspicious and were attempting to determine its cause. The FBI is investigating the fire as a “civil rights case,” spokesman Mike Evans said.

No one was injured, but a rare handwritten Quran was destroyed in the blaze.