Purchased with grant money, the four dolls of varying ethnic appearance will be used by the Cherokee County Coroner's Office to help explain the cause of infant deaths. Unconscious infants are often rushed for medical treatment and investigators don't often get to see how the infant was positioned when found. Witnesses can use the dolls to help investigators answer difficult questions. Cradling a lifelike infant doll in his arm, Cherokee County Coroner Dennis Fowler hopes the newest tools at his disposal will rarely see the light of day.

Smiling and happy-looking, the four dolls obtained by his office will likely be stored in the trunk of his vehicle along with all of the other investigative tools and supplies he uses whenever he's called out to the scene of a death that needs explanation.

Should he need them, however, Fowler believes the newest tools at his disposal will be invaluable.

Purchased with grant money from the South Carolina Department of Public Safety, Fowler said he and other investigators will use the dolls in cases involving the deaths of infants, such as in sudden infant death.

An unresponsive child is most often rushed for medical treatment, Fowler said, leaving investigators to piece together the circumstances of a child's death.

"The two people we want to talk to are the last person to see the child alive and the person who found the child unresponsive," he said.

Witnesses can use the dolls to show investigators things like how the child was positioned when found, which could give investigators and medical professionals important clues about a child's cause of death.

"We're able to photograph that and provide them to pathologists," Fowler said.

A father himself, Fowler said all death investigations can be tough. "But it's especially tough with children," he said. "I always try to put myself in their positions and be as compassionate and gentle as possible."

Unfortunately, he said the new dolls have already been put to use in Cherokee County.

Fowler completed a training seminar on infant death investigations and doll reenactment conducted by Charleston County Coroner Rae Wooten earlier this year.