AUBURN – An Auburn baby who was apparently injured while in the care of her mother’s boyfriend died Saturday, police said.

An autopsy to determine the cause of death of Emily-Leigh Cole, 8 months old, will be held today in Augusta at the Medical Examiner’s Office, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Meanwhile the biological father was incarcerated at the Androscoggin County Jail on Saturday night where the mother’s boyfriend, Todd Gamache, 23, was also being held. Gamache had been picked up at 2 a.m. on warrants unrelated to the baby.

Androscoggin County Sheriff Guy Desjardins confirmed the baby’s father, Michael Cole, 26, of 115 Oak St., Lewiston, is an inmate serving a sentence on an assault charge, also unrelated to the baby.

“He’s been seen by a pastor,” Desjardins said Saturday night from Portland, after he had spoken with staff at the jail. “Right now, he’s doing well.”

The child died at the Maine Medical Center in Portland, where she had been on life support. Thursday night police and an ambulance responded to a 911 call of an unresponsive baby from 113 Broad St., Auburn. The baby was taken to a Lewiston hospital and later transferred to Portland.

Police said the child was injured Thursday night at 113 Broad St., and that Gamache, 23, was watching the baby. He shared the apartment with the child’s mother, Libby St. Pierre, 32.

Auburn police arrested Gamache early Friday morning on outstanding warrants unrelated to the baby’s injuries, police said. The charges include violating the conditions of bail release, operating without a license, disorderly conduct, refusing to submit to an arrest and driving to endanger.

No charges in the death were filed Saturday, and no decision will be made in that regard until the first of the week, after detectives review autopsy results and talk to the Maine Attorney General’s Office to update them on the investigation, McCausland said.

Emily-Leigh was born July 7 at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston to Libby Laplante-St. Pierre and Michael Cole of Auburn, according to a published birth announcement. She had two siblings, Milhalia and Maria, and grandparents Louise and Jeannie Laplante of Tamworth, N.H., Debbie Cole of Lewiston and the late Roger Cole of Lewiston.


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