CARY — Police are investigating the death of a three-month-old boy who was found unconscious at a motel this month.

Police are awaiting the results of an autopsy indicating how the child died, Cary police Lt. Steve Funke said Thursday.

The child was found on March 12 in the hallway of the Best Western at 1722 Walnut Street after a woman who identified herself as "Whitney" called 911 to report that her baby was not breathing, according to a search warrant made public Thursday.

A 911 dispatcher instructed the woman on how to revive the child, but the dispatcher told police she did not think the woman was following her instructions, court records show.

Emergency medical workers and firefighters arrived at the hotel within minutes of the 911 call and found the child in the hallway with his mother and father, court records show.

Blood and fluid seeped from the boy’s mouth. EMS paramedics tried to revive the child and then took him to Rex Hospital in Raleigh, where he died, court records show.

Funke said the child's parents live in Raleigh, but were recently displaced by a fire in the apartment building where they lived.

The father, who is not named in the search warrant, told police he had been visiting a relative that day and that when he returned to the hotel could not get into his room. He said a hotel night clerk helped him get in and that his wife came to him and said their son was not breathing, Cary Det. James A. Grier stated in the court affidavit.

The man told police that he picked up his son, began performing CPR and called 911.

When police arrived, an officer noticed what appeared to be a blood stain on a couch pillow as well as blood on the father's shirt, according to the affidavit.

The child's father told police that his wife had been sitting on one end of the couch and their baby was asleep on the other. He said his wife fell asleep and that she awoke when her husband returned to their room and found the baby was not breathing, according to the affidavit.

Another person from a nearby room told police that she had heard a commotion in the hallway around midnight. The woman, who was not named in the search warrant, told police that she heard a woman's voice but could not tell if she was laughing or crying before saying, "I did that!" according to the affidavit.

The witness told police that when she opened her room door she saw an infant laying on his back between a woman’s legs, according to the affidavit. The witness told police that the woman was speaking on a cell phone before she bent over, covered the child's mouth and nose with her mouth and gave "one very quick puff of air," Grier stated in the court affidavit.

The witness told police that she took the phone from the woman and spoke with the 911 dispatcher.

Court records indicate the child died at the hospital at 1:43 a.m.

Investigators obtained search warrants and seized several items from the hotel room, including a laptop computer, the pillow that appeared to have a blood stain, a baby nipple, a Red Cross blanket and a green shirt, court records show.

thomasi.mcdonald@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4533