The 12-year-old boy found dead in his DeKalb County apartment was a victim of homicide, police said Thursday.

Nicolas Aleman died as the result of ligature asphyxiation, DeKalb County police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said. Police have not identified a suspect in the strangulation death, Parish said.

Nicolas' body was found Tuesday afternoon by his mother inside a unit at the Highland Knoll apartment complex, located at 3699 Buford Highway, police said.

Emergency officials responded to a call reporting a person down, possibly suffering from cardiac arrest, Officer Jason Gagnon told the AJC on Tuesday night.

"EMS personnel called our detectives after they noticed a few things that didn't look right," Gagnon told the AJC.

Nicolas was a sixth grader at Sequoyah Middle School, Channel 2 Action News reported.

Anyone with information in this case is asked to call the DeKalb police department's Major Felony Unit at 770-724-7850.

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