A toddler found in the trunk of a car may have died of hyperthermia due to extreme heat conditions, authorities said according to ABC News.
The Polk County Sheriff's Department released a statement stating the preliminary findings from an autopsy on the Wisconsin 2-year-old. It also found that Isaiah Theis was "normally developed and well-nourished" according to the examination, and there were no signs of diseases, traumatic injuries or broken bones.
The statement listed the cause of death as "probable hyperthermia," a condition causing body temperature to spike; however, the manner of the death is still under investigation as toxicology tests are pending.
"Obviously this is pretty much the worst ending we could have come to," Sheriff Peter Johnson said Friday at a news conference. "The only thing worse would have been if we never found him," he said of the long search for the boy.
The boy's mother said he disappeared Tuesday while outside with his 7-year-old brother at their home near Centuria, Wis.
The sheriff's department started an all-day search Wednesday, and a deputy found the boy's body in the evening in the trunk of a locked car outside his home. They discovered his body when the car owner came to pick up the vehicle at the boy's father's auto shop, which is located on the property.
According to the article, searchers looked inside and around the car multiple times, but no one searched the trunk. Chief Deputy Steve Moe declined to speculate on how the toddler ended up in the trunk. He also refused to say whether or not investigators think his death was an accident.
Moe said about 2,450 civilian volunteers helped search for the boy.
