Police said the father called the police department’s non-emergency number early Sunday morning and said something about needing a crisis officer before hanging up. Police tried calling back but received no answer and sent officers to the residence on East Third Street in the Dayton's Bluff neighborhood.
Police arrived about 2:30 a.m., and the father told officers that his daughter was on the back porch. They located the girl unconscious and unresponsive; paramedics arrived and pronounced her dead.
Ernster said authorities couldn't yet say how the girl died.
After being questioned, investigators booked the girl's mother and father into the Ramsey County Jail on suspicion of murder. They have not been formally charged.
Five other children in the home, ranging in age from 9 months to 11 years, were turned over to child protection services, police said.
MPR News contributed to this report.