Mystery Deaths Of Grandmother, 4-Year-Old Grandson Turn Into Homicide Cases After Woman's Body Exhumed

The Brooklyn police have found that a woman and her 4-year-old grandson, who died within three months of each other last year, were allegedly fatally poisoned.

The bizarre revelation came after the grandmother’s body was exhumed for an incriminating autopsy, according to the city Medical Examiner.

The authorities clarified Thursday the deaths of both the grandma, identified as Tafoon Man, and grandson were being investigated as homicide cases. The victims were fatally dosed with thallium, a tasteless and odorless product once used to kill vermin, the New York Daily News reported.

The boy's parents were in the middle of a custody battle when the child, identified as Wilhelm Ducatl, suddenly fell ill on May 24, 2021. The police said he died on May 26, 2021, two days after falling ill.

The police sources said no arrests have been made yet, and nobody has been deemed a suspect in the case so far. However, they added the child's father was currently not a focus of the investigation, the New York Times reported.

The grandmother's husband, Hingsou Wong, said his 63-year-old wife went to stay with their daughter last year after the latter's partner moved out of the family’s home near Dahill Road. She suddenly fell sick, and her daughter sent her to Mount Sinai Brooklyn, where she was pronounced dead just eight hours later on Feb. 17, 2021.

Three months later, the child complained “he was feeling tired” and was later rushed to Maimonides Hospital in critical condition with severe stomach pains, following which he died.

When the medical examiner’s office told the police the boy was possibly poisoned, authorities launched an investigation into the earlier death of the grandmother. The woman's body was exhumed from a local cemetery for testing that eventually showed both were homicide victims.

Wong was still trying to cope with the deaths one year after the tragedies.

“I am very sad and heartbroken,” Wong told the Daily News after word of the poisonings became public Thursday. “My wife was very healthy. I still do not know what happened.”

A relative told Daily News there was initially nothing suspicious about the deaths despite the proximity of the two fatalities.

“It originally sounded like it was a natural cause,” the family member said. “Almost a year after everything ... if the police are investigating, we just want them to do their work.” The family member spoke to the media on condition of anonymity.