8-Year-Old Wisconsin Boy Dies, Mother Arrested: Police

SHEBOYGAN FALLS, WI — An 8-year-old Wisconsin boy died Friday after he was found unresponsive in a Sheboygan Falls apartment, and the boy's mother was arrested, the Sheboygan Falls Police Department said.

Oliver Hitchcock, 8, was hospitalized Wednesday and died Friday, Police Chief Eric Miller said at a news conference. Paramedics first treated Hitchcock for strangulation, Miller added.

Police accused the boy's mother of first-degree intentional homicide and attempted homicide, but no criminal charges have come forward yet, police said in a statement. The mother remains unnamed, and the medical examiner's office hasn't determined a cause of death.

"We know the first responders from Sheboygan Falls, Orange Cross Ambulance, the doctors and staff at Saint Nicolas Hospital in Sheboygan and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin did everything to save Oliver," police said.

Oliver's uncle, Eric, set up a fundraiser for his father, Jeff, and 11-year-old brother, Leo. The fundraiser has overshot its goal with over $24,000 raised for a $10,000 goal.

"Your donations will help Jeff and Leo through the most difficult days, weeks and months ahead as they begin to cope with a life that has been turned upside-down by a senseless act of violence," the fundraiser page said.

"Oliver was a smart, sweet kid," Eric Hitchcock told WISN-12. He liked playing Minecraft and was into airplanes.

"I just couldn't believe it was true," Eric Hitchcock told WISN. "I mean I just talked to his mom two days before and things were normal and we had a good conversation. It's just unbelievable."