White powder seized after toddler's death

RALEIGH -- Police seized a "white powder substance" from the apartment where a toddler died in May from multiple blows to his chest, sides, back and head, according to a search warrant made public Friday.

Jim Sughrue, a police spokesman, declined to comment about the substance.

The child, Charvus Dublin Jr., 2, also had internal bleeding around his brain and inside his abdominal cavity. Charvus was being watched by his mother's boyfriend, DonJuan Cassadary Smith Jr., 24, at the man's apartment at 3320-104 Hewberry Lane, near Sunnybrook Road in Raleigh.

Police charged Smith with murder.

Emergency medical workers told police that the child had injuries that were inconsistent with the information provided by Smith, who said Charvus simply died after becoming ill, according to an autopsy report released earlier this month.

Medical authorities also became suspicious because the child had no known medical history, according to the search warrant filed Friday at the Wake County Clerk of Courts Office.

Smith told authorities Charvus complained of stomach pain and vomited sometime that afternoon.

According to the autopsy, Smith placed him in the bathtub and later found the child face down. He then clothed the boy and took his lifeless body to the home of a neighbor, who dialed 911.

Police also recovered a blue-striped shirt, a pair of white baby shoes, an orange shirt and a Boston Celtics baseball cap during a May 14 search of the residence, court records show.