Dad, stepmom charged in beating death of girl, 4
Posted at: 10/08/2012 3:21 PM
| Updated at: 10/08/2012 10:13 PM
By: Joe Vigil, KOB Eyewitness News 4; Tracy Dingmann, KOB.com
The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department says a 4 year old girl is dead and her father and stepmother have been charged in her death.
Authorities tell us Anthony Chavez and Gayla Hernandez have been charged with child abuse, child abuse with great bodily harm and conspiracy in the beating death of the child, identified only as "R.S."
According to a criminal complaint, the girl died Sunday after suffering a brain herniation from possible head trauma.
The child also had numerous bruises and scratches on her body, in various stages of healing.
Authorities said Chavez and Hernandez were arrested after inconsistent stories about how the girl was hurt.
"Numerous things. That the child had been scratching herself in her sleep. That they had had a pit bull at the house for a couple days who had also possibly scratched the child or bitten her. And also the last incident was that she had possibly fallen off a bar stool," BCSO Captain Jessica Tyler told KOB Monday.
The child was apparently with the couple in an apartment in the 4200 block of Williams SE.
Tyler said the girl was in the care of her father from Wednesday through Saturday.
Authorities say the girl's biological mother said her daughter was healthy and uninjured when she last saw her on Wednesday.
 |
Tweet |
|
