Investigators believe a 7-year-old autistic boy died of starvation following his mother’s death weeks before their decomposing bodies were discovered inside a Brooklyn apartment Wednesday.
Sara Watkins, 33, and her son Kannon Reid, 7, lived alone in the apartment, police said. No foul play is suspected in their deaths.
Watkins became reclusive and shut out the outside world following her grandfather’s death three years ago.
“That’s when she changed. She pushed everybody away overnight. She said, ‘My grandfather, that’s all I had.’ She said, ‘I found him in the room dead.’ She found him,” said Rosetta Herbert, Kannon’s aunt.
Herbert said Watkins wouldn’t let her see her nephew or invite him to her apartment in the same building to play with other kids.
The boy was non-verbal and autistic, his father said. The man, who lived in Pennsylvania, last tried to see Kannon six weeks ago.
“I went to her house just to see my son, because I haven’t seen him. I’ve seen him on the iPhone, but I haven’t seen him physically since he was 3 years old. She wouldn’t let me see him.”
“It was really tough. I sent money. I sent Christmas gifts. I sent birthday gifts all the time.”
