Nearly six years after a 9-month-old baby was found not breathing, with broken bones and a burn on his leg, the boy's mother is headed to court to face murder charges.
A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge on Wednesday ordered Ivette Melissa Gonzalez, 32, to stand trial for the death of her daughter, Selena.
On May 5, 2018, González called paramedics at a laundromat near his home in Los Angeles. According to investigators, she ran there with the baby in tow to report that her daughter was not breathing.
Responding firefighters found a “chaotic scene” in which a woman was performing chest compressions on a baby. Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Cody Weireter said the baby was “blue in color.”
The baby was taken to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
“She said the baby had stopped breathing after she gave him some rice,” the former Los Angeles police detective said. Moisés Castillo told The Times.
Castillo, who testified at Wednesday's preliminary hearing, said: “She thought the rice, maybe it was too much and was blocking her airway, so he put her on the ground and punched her in the stomach hoping to expel the rice.”
Gonzalez was arrested the day she called paramedics, but the district attorney's office delayed filing criminal charges until Selena's autopsy report was completed, said Castillo, who was a child abuse investigator in the division. LAPD youth at the time of Selena's death and retired. in 2020. He was the initial lead investigator of Selena's case and met with González at the hospital on the day of her daughter's death.
González was accused of murder and assault of a child causing death in February 2019. She was arrested, where she remains on $2 million bail.
An autopsy determined that Selena's cause of death was a combination of blunt force trauma, possible asphyxiation, chronic abuse trauma, coronavirus, and pneumonia. Three drugs were also found in Selena's system that may have contributed to her death: THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana; trazodone, an antidepressant; and cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant.
When asked about drugs in the baby's system, Gonzalez said he had left pills scattered throughout the house at the time, according to LAPD Detective. Alina Gheta.
Castillo testified that he had seen drug paraphernalia when he visited Gonzalez's home. He tested positive for THC and opiates.
Dr. Carol Berkowitz, a pediatrician who works as a pediatric consultant for the Los Angeles County medical examiner's office, testified that she reviewed a document that indicated the baby was not being breastfed, making it unlikely the medications would pass through. through breast milk.
Castillo said Selena had a large square-shaped burn on her left leg. Gonzalez had said it was the result of a hot stroller during a recent trip to a water park, Great Wolf Lodge in Anaheim, but Castillo said it looked like a burn caused by an iron or another appliance.
Gonzalez's husband backed up his account of how the girl's leg had been injured earlier and said the girl was fine when he left for work, according to Gheta.
Deputy District. Lawyer. Jonathan Hatami, the prosecutor in the case, said Gonzalez's court proceedings had been delayed in part because of mental health treatment, but offered no further comment. A representative for the Los Angeles County public defender's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Castillo said the charges of murder and child abuse resulting in death carry prison sentences of 25 years to life in prison.
“No child should suffer fractures, except in a car accident or a freak accident,” Castillo said.
Gonzalez is due in court for an arraignment hearing on January 24.
City News Service contributed to this report.
