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4-Year-Old Dies After Being Found Unconscious in Midtown Luxury Building

By  Murray Weiss Ben Fractenberg and Gustavo Solis | January 8, 2014 4:57pm | Updated on January 8, 2014 8:24pm

 A 4-year-old boy died after being found unconscious inside The Ritz Plaza on West 48th Street Wednesday morning.
A 4-year-old boy died after being found unconscious inside The Ritz Plaza on West 48th Street Wednesday morning.
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DNAinfo/Gustavo Solis

MANHATTAN — A 4-year-old boy died Wednesday after he was found unconscious inside a luxury Midtown high-rise apartment where he was being cared for by a woman as his father sat in jail, according to police.

The child, Myls Dobson, was found inside a The Ritz Plaza residence at 235 West 48th St. — where two bedrooms go for $5,295 a month — about 10:50 a.m. Wednesday, police said.

He was being cared for by a 27-year-old woman who took him in last month when his father, Okee Wade, 37, was arrested on an outstanding warrant in New Jersey for fraud, according to police sources and relatives.

The woman told police that the boy was alone in the bathroom while she was in another part of the apartment. She said she heard a "thump," went into the bathroom, and found the child unconscious in the empty bathtub, sources said.

Myls was taken to Roosevelt Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said. Doctors found bruises all over the child, apparent signs of abuse, sources said.

Investigators were still questioning the woman, whose relationship to the family remained unclear, Thursday morning and charges had not yet been filed in the case, sources said.

"The Administration of Child Services is actively investigating the tragic death of this little boy," ACS spokesman Christopher Mckniff said. He would not confirm there was any history of abuse.

The boy's cause of death has not yet been determined.

Wade's mother and sister said that Myls was born into a troubled relationship.

The father has served more than three years in prison for attempted robbery and was arrested again in December after he failed to return to court in New Jersey for a bank fraud charge, public records show.

The boy's mother lived in South Carolina, where the couple met.

Orquidia Wade, the boy's aunt on his father's side, said that despite her brother's criminal record, a family court judge gave him custody of the boy because of the mother's abusive behavior.