EAST ST. LOUIS — Police are investigating the death of a 1-year-old girl whose relatives told police she started spitting up and the smell of bleach was coming from her mouth.

East St. Louis Police Chief Michael Floore said the Illinois Juvenile Death Investigation Team of St. Clair County is handling the investigation.

Floore said police went at 9:53 p.m. Christmas Eve to the 1300 block of North 38th Street after someone at a residence there placed a 911 call and the hung up, Floore said.

The baby's 27-year-old aunt was keeping her. She told police that the unidentified infant was playing with other children who were in the house in a middle room.

"When the baby came back in the room where the aunt was she was playing with a cat. She started spitting up, and the aunt said she smelled bleach coming from her mouth" Floore said.

She told the responding officers that an ambulance was needed immediately, Floore said.

The baby was rushed to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis, where she died.

The unidentified aunt said she had given the infant some orange juice earlier in the night but did not know where she got bleach from, Floore said.

"The death investigation team is conducting an investigation," Floore said. "The baby's mother was not at the residence with the baby when police arrived."