A 2-year-old Recent York boy died of starvation after his dad passed away from heart disease, leaving the toddler alone of their upstate home, authorities said.
The Ontario County Sheriff’s Office on Monday released the official causes of death of 59-year-old David Conde Sr. and his toddler son, David Conde Jr., nine months after the 2 were discovered inside their home on Hamilton Street in Geneva.
Deputies said that the daddy died first of natural causes resulting from heart disease.
His 2-year-old son then died of malnourishment sometime later.
“It’s believed Mr. Conde passed away first and the kid was not in a position to obtain any nourishment after his father passed,” deputies wrote within the news release cited by Syracuse.com.
Sheriff’s Lt. Dave Cirencione said the tragic conclusion of this case didn’t come as a surprise to investigators.
“Once we ruled out carbon monoxide [as the cause of death], we sadly knew this was a probable cause,” Cirencione told Finger Lakes Times. “This a really, very sad case.”
Deputies were called to the Condes’ apartment on Feb. 15, 2022, to perform a welfare check on the request of members of the family after the daddy and son hadn’t been seen or heard from in per week.
The boy and his dad were found together within the bedroom with no signs of trauma on the bodies, officials said on the time.
The Democrat and Chronicle reported that Conde Sr. obtained custody of his son shortly after his birth, and that the boy’s mom didn’t appear to be in his life.
Conde Jr.’s obituary stated that the toddler had just learned to walk after several surgeries and months of rehabilitation as a consequence of an undisclosed medical condition.
The boy is survived by his mother, Michelle Travers, and 7 siblings.
The investigation into the dad and son’s deaths has been officially closed, deputies said.