BLOOMINGTON - McLean County Coroner Beth Kimmerling has asked a forensic pathologist to re-examine the cause of death and autopsy report of a 5-year-old boy who died after he suffered a broken arm almost 39 years ago.

Larry Freitag died May 19, 1969, in the emergency room at Bloomington's St. Joseph's Hospital, now OSF St. Joseph Medical Center, where his mother, Nancy Gordon, had taken him with a spiral fracture to his right arm.

A report by the late county Coroner Curtis Gilberts listed the child's cause of death as heart failure due to edema, or swelling, of the brain and lungs and convulsions. The arm injury was named as a contributing factor to the death.

Kimmerling's decision to ask Bloomington pathologist Dr. Scott Denton to review the decades-old report follows questions from Cindy Patton, one of Frietag's siblings.

"Family members remain convinced that the death was a non-natural death and because of their persistence, we've agreed to take a look at this," Kimmerling said Friday.

Denton has been asked to review the entire file on the death case, including the autopsy results and the conclusion of the inquest panel that ruled the death accidental.

The pathologist "will see if the conclusion follows what is described in Larry Freitag's autopsy," said Kimmerling.

In an interview with The Pantagraph, Patton said she and another sister, Lisa Rhodes, have harbored doubts about the cause of their brother's death for many years.

"All this time, my sister and I thought something was wrong," said Patton.

Rhodes, who was 6 when her brother died, said the explanations offered by adults seemed less reasonable as the years passed.

"We were told Larry died of a broken arm. It didn't make sense," said Rhodes, who supports the coroner's decision to ask for the review.

The boy's mother was notified by the coroner's office Friday of the new investigation. She said she is puzzled that the case is getting a second look.

"There was no criminal action involved. He fell off the steps one afternoon and broke his arm," said Nancy Gordon, who lives with the boy's stepfather, Harold Gordon, in Armington.

Gordon said she believes the child had an allergic reaction to a pain medication given at the hospital.

The sight of the child bundled on a gurney for a move to a Peoria hospital cannot be erased from Gordon's mind.

"It was the worst moment of my life," she said, adding that her son died before he was transferred.

Gordon said she and Patton have not spoken since a disagreement unrelated to Larry's death about two years ago.

Patton recalled that she was helping her mother with dishes in the kitchen of the family's home on North Roosevelt Avenue, Bloomington, when she heard her little brother's screams from the back porch. She said her mother ran out the back door and followed the boy to the front porch where he sitting, holding his arm.

Gordon put the boy and her daughter in the car and drove to the hospital.

Once in the emergency room, the child's piercing screams could be heard in the hallway and nearby waiting room. The child's pediatrician was attempting to set the child's broken arm when uncontrollable seizures developed, according to inquest testimony.

The Freitag death is the second case handled by Gilberts to be reviewed after a substantial amount of time.

In 1995, police re-opened the investigation into the death of Coleen Uban, a 24-year-old housewife whose body was found in April 1968 in a burning car southeast of Bloomington.

The woman's husband, Karl Uban, was charged with murder after a forensic review 30 years after the incident showed signs that she may have been strangled. A jury failed to reach a verdict in 1998, and prosecutors decided a year later not to retry the case.