3-year-old found dead in El Paso car trunk
tiny dancer
3-year-old found dead in El Paso car trunk, parents arrested
07:32 PM CST on Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Associated Press
EL PASO – The mother and stepfather of a 3-year-old girl found dead in a car
trunk were arrested in connection with the child's death Tuesday, police
said.
Yara Perez and her common-law husband, Francisco Castaneda, both 25, were
arrested on a charge of injury to a child resulting in death, a first-degree
felony. The pair were arrested several hours after Jacqueline Gonzalez's
body was found in the trunk of Perez's car.
El Paso police made the discovery after going to the family's east El Paso
apartment about 11 p.m. Monday in response to a well-being check involving
the girl.
Details of how Jacqueline died have not been released. Investigators said
Tuesday afternoon they are waiting for autopsy results to determine the
exact cause of death.
A 5-year-old child living at the apartment has been turned over Child
Protective Services, police said.
It is unclear if Perez and Castaneda have a lawyer. According to El Paso
County jail records, the couple had not been booked into the facility late
Tuesday afternoon.
tiny dancer
Mom, stepfather arrested in child's death
By Tammy Fonce-Olivas / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 11/20/2007 04:55:08 PM MST
El Paso Police have arrested the mother and stepfather in the death of
3-year old Jacqueline Gonzalez.
Arrested were Yara Perez, 25, and Francisco Castaneda, 25, both of the 600
block of S. Yarbrough. Police referred to Castaneda as Perez's common-law
husband.
Both have been charged with Injury to a Child Resulting in a Death, a first
degree felony.
Police are investigating the death of Jacqueline whose body was found inside
the trunk of her family's sedan which was parked outside a Lower Valley
apartment.
Officers found her body after a person, who police declined to identify,
called 911 at about 11 p.m. Monday and requested that police check on the
girl's welfare by going her family's home at the Western Yarbrough
Apartments, at 625 S. Yarbrough.
"The call did not come from the (victim's) apartment or the parents," Javier
Sambrano, police spokesman, said.
After police searched the apartment, they searched the exterior of the
apartment complex, talked to neighbors and rummaged through a gold-colored
Dodge Stratus parked in front of the victim's apartment. The girl's body was
in the sedan's trunk. Police said the vehicle belonged to the child's
mother.
Preliminary autopsy results do show signs injuries that may have contributed
to the death of the child, Sambrano said. At this time investigators will
have to await the final autopsy results to learn the exact cause of death,
Sambrano said.
There was a five year old child also at the house hold that was
temporarily turned over to Child Protective Services and is currently with a
foster family.
Krystle Madrid, who lives next door to the victim, said the family has lived
at the apartment for about four months.
Madrid said she learned about the tragedy at 2 a.m. when police came to her
door to ask if she had seen or heard anything connected with the incident.
"It's really ugly. You wouldn't imagine something like this would happen to
a child because they're so innocent," she said.
Nobody has been charged in connection with the girl's death.
The victim's mother and common-law husband were taken to police headquarters
in Central El Paso earlier today where they were questioned by detectives.
Police said another young child, who resides in the apartment, has been
placed in the custody of the Child Protective Services.
Tammy Fonce-Olivas may be reached at tfo...@elpasotimes.com; 546-6362.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/newupdated/ci_7517016
ItsJustMe
The mother of 3-year-old Jacqueline Gonzalez, found dead late Monday in a
plastic tub in the trunk of a car, was investigated by Child Protective
Services on two separate occasions, officials said Wednesday.
Yara Belen Perez, 25, was investigated on allegations of child abuse and
neglect, once in March 2004 and again in July this year, said Paul
Zimmerman, a spokes man for the Texas Department of Family and Protective
Services.
Both of Perez's children remained with their mother after an investigation,
he said.
In March 2004, the investigation stemmed from a call placed by day-care
personnel who reported a burn to the chest of Perez's older daughter,
Zimmerman said.
The burn reportedly resulted when hot milk from a microwave oven spilled
onto the girl, and it was ruled accidental in August of that year, he said.
The second case was a result of Perez's arrest July 27.
"It was a domestic slapping involving relatives," Zimmerman said.
According to an indictment, Perez "intentionally and knowingly by act,
caused bodily injury" by striking Josefina Mercer, 65, and a child younger
than 15 years old in the face.
Police notified the CPS upon belief that Perez "might be a harm to her
children because she was acting irrational" at the time, but not toward her
own children, Zimmerman said.
From the day of the arrest through Aug. 21, the agency found no evidence
that Perez was guilty of abuse toward or neglect of her children.
"We definitely look at past history,"
he said of the second investigation. "But it was not a big red flag when
findings are ruled out."
Around 11 p.m. Monday, the CPS was called out after police discovered
Jacqueline's body in a plastic tub inside Perez's gold-colored Dodge Stratus
parked outside her apartment.
Jacqueline died because of "internal bleeding due to blunt force injury to
the abdomen," according to the El Paso County medical examiner.
Perez and her common-law husband, Francisco Castaneda, 25, have been charged
with injury to a child resulting in death, a first-degree felony.
Castaneda, who has a toddler son, had been charged twice with assault
causing bodily injury to a family member in December 2005.
Diane Diaz, then Castaneda's common-law wife, suffered injuries to the
bridge of her nose, nostril and upper lip when Castaneda hit her, according
to an El Paso Police Department incident-investigation report.
CPS officials could not say on Wednesday whether Castaneda had been
previously investigated by the agency.
But Zimmerman confirmed that Castaneda did not live in the home and was not
involved during the agency's investigations of Perez.
Of Jacqueline's 5-year-old sister, who was also living in the apartment,
Zimmerman said, "She is in foster care and in good health."
ItsJustMe
The Lower Valley woman and her common-law husband who were arrested Tuesday
are blaming each other for the death of 3-year-old Jacqueline Gonzalez, but
could not provide a good reason for the child's injuries, officials said.
Yara Belen Perez and Francisco Javier Castaneda, both 25, were arrested
Tuesday at their apartment at 625 S. Yarbrough after police found
Jacqueline's body in the trunk of the family car.
An autopsy found that Jacqueline's death was a homicide due to internal
bleeding from blunt force trauma to the abdomen, the El Paso County Medical
Examiner's Office confirmed Wednesday.
A complaint affidavit, filed against both Perez and Castaneda, indicates