A 3-year-old child was found safe inside the Bay Street residence where his 24-year-old mother was discovered dead Sunday afternoon.

South Kitsap Fire & Rescue reported that medics responded to the residence in downtown Port Orchard around 4:30 p.m. after the woman’s sister called 9-1-1 and said she’d been trying to contact her sister for the previous two or three days.

The woman, whose name was not released, was pronounced dead at the scene in the residence in the 800 block of Bay Street.

The woman’s sister heard her nephew inside the residence, and she and others talked the boy through getting a chair to reach and unlock the deadbolt to let them in, SKFR reported. It was not known how long the child had been inside without the care of his mother, but he appeared healthy, and he was transported to a local hospital for evaluation.

The boy was accompanied to the hospital by his father, who does not live at the residence but came there after being notified of what happened, SKFR reported.

The woman’s cause of death is under investigation by the Kitsap County Coroner’s office.