I woke up in the middle of the night to find my beautiful baby dead… and no one will tell me why

An Idaho couple experienced their worst nightmare in February when their newborn baby died without explanation.

Diamond and Alexis Cooley recalled the terrifying moment they found their baby son Onyxx lifeless – and the heartbreaking search for answers that followed.

Alexis told the Idaho Statesman she found her baby on his back — the same way she had let him sleep the night before — with a half-inch of yellowish-white, bloody foam coming out of his mouth.

The parents – who live separately and share joint custody of their three sons, Jasper, Stohne and Onyxx – still don’t know exactly how their son died because a full investigation was never launched.

Bonneville County Coroner Rick Taylor, 68, who works part-time and makes $95,928, has dismissed the cause as a mystery without conducting a thorough investigation – suggesting a loophole in broader state law.

Taylor later announced his resignation on November 8, effective December 28.

The nightmare began for the Cooley family on February 1, when Alexis woke up around 6:10 a.m. in her home in the sleepy farming town of Shelley, near Idaho Falls, to find her youngest child cold and lifeless.

In a fit of desperation, she tried to clear his airway with her finger before using the Heimlich maneuver she had learned in a training course.

When those attempts failed, she ran upstairs with Onyxx in tow and screamed for help from her parents, who she lives with in Shelley.

An Idaho couple experienced their worst nightmare in February when their newborn baby died without explanation. (Pictured: Baby Onyxx with his father Diamond)

Diamond and Alexis Cooley recalled the terrifying moment they found their infant son Onyxx lifeless – and the heartbreaking search for answers that followed as they searched for answers in a system that seemed stacked against them. (Pictured: Alexis Cooley)

She frantically called 911 before handing the phone to her mother as she tried to save her little boy’s life.

Alexis then called Diamond, who lives about 20 minutes away in Idaho Falls.

Diamond jumped into action, climbing into his truck and arriving at Shelley’s house just in time to see his son disappear into the back of an ambulance.

The family followed him in his pickup truck to the emergency room at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center, where they arrived at 6:43 a.m., records show.

A doctor delivered the devastating news that Onyxx had died just two minutes after she arrived, and medics made a provisional diagnosis of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Onyxx was born with a cleft lip, which led to some complications, including being unable to breastfeed and choking on spit a few times after being placed on his back.

But otherwise he was a quiet, easy-to-raise child, his parents said – he rarely cried and loved his older brothers.

Because he was otherwise healthy and the hospital diagnosis was uncertain, a forensic pathologist was recruited to help Cooley find answers.

Onyxx was born with a cleft lip, which led to some complications, including being unable to breastfeed and choking on spit a few times after being placed on his back

The parents live separately and share custody of their three sons, Jasper and Stohne, but still don’t know exactly how their son Onyxx (pictured) died

Bonneville County Coroner Rick Taylor (pictured), 68, who works part-time and earns a salary of $95,928, dismissed the cause as a mystery without conducting a thorough investigation – suggesting a loophole in broader state law

The nightmare began for the Cooley family on February 1, when Alexis woke up around 6:10 a.m. in her home in the sleepy farming town of Shelley, near Idaho Falls, to find her youngest child cold and lifeless

On the day Onyxx died, Diamond (pictured) got into his truck and arrived at the Shelley home just in time to see his son disappear into the back of an ambulance

But Bonneville County Coroner Taylor merely deemed the death mysterious and did not properly investigate what led to the tragedy.

He did not ask the Cooleys what happened in the days before Onyxx’s death, nor did he visit the crime scene – or even order an autopsy, as required by national guidelines.

Taylor was able to do this because Idaho law does not require elected county coroners to follow national standards for death investigations.

This differs from most states, which have professional boards that set regulations for coroners, with many requiring them to perform full autopsies on unexplained child deaths.

In Idaho, one of the few requirements is to attend coroner’s school within one year of taking office and complete 24 hours of training every two years thereafter.

And there is no penalty for not doing the bare minimum; Records show Taylor hasn’t practiced nearly 24 hours since 2018, the Idaho Statesman reported.

Therefore, a child who dies without medical attention in this state is more likely to go unexplained than anywhere else in the United States.

A review by the state Office of Performance Evaluations this year found that between 2018 and 2022 in Idaho, 49 percent of deaths with unnatural or unknown causes were autopsied — compared to the national average of 79 percent.

Onyxx (pictured) was a quiet child who was easy to raise, his parents said

In Bonneville County, the statistics are even worse: Taylor ordered autopsies in only 33 percent of 39 child deaths whose causes were unnatural or unknown.

Taylor’s alleged inadequacies were raised by Ada County Coroner Rich Riffle, who performs autopsies on behalf of 30 other county coroners, including Bonneville.

In January, he wrote a letter to the Bonneville County Board of Commissioners saying there were “several problems” with Taylor’s death investigation.

According to Riffle, the office “consistently provides inadequate information” before autopsies, adding that Taylor often sent “mere case summaries, sometimes just a few sentences on murder cases.”

Taylor hit back by saying his reports were brief because he saw no point in duplicating police work, adding that Riffle “He’s been really difficult to work with since he was elected,” said the Idaho Statesman.

However, in his resignation letter, Taylor wrote: “With population growth, it will be much busier than ever before. “I will be considered part-time, but at the next coroner’s office that will become a full-time position and I don’t have the time to commit to that.”