From left: Kerri Anne Santos, 31, Austin Bing, 28, Christina Pena-Cantor, 46 and James Welch 48, are all facing child abuse charges after a 3-year-old girl died at an Albuquerque, New Mexico hospital. Santos, the mother of the girl, also is facing a tampering with evidence charge. (Bernalillo County Jail)
A 3-year-old girl died at a New Mexico hospital after suffering injuries that were in different stages of healing including pressure marks that suggested she had been tied down to a bed, authorities said.
Kerri Anne Santos, 31, Austin Bing, 28, Christina Pena-Cantor, 46 and James Welch 48, are all facing child abuse charges, court records show. Santos, the mother of the girl, also is charged with tampering with evidence. All are being held at the Bernalillo County Jail without bond.
Citing an affidavit, Albuquerque ABC affiliate KOAT reported Santos brought the girl to an Albuquerque hospital on Saturday after the child wasn’t feeling well. Doctors pronounced the girl dead. She told Albuquerque Police Department detectives she had driven across the country from Massachusetts to escape an abusive relationship.
Santos said she and her three children were staying at Welch’s studio apartment on the 3000 block of Gold Avenue SE. She claimed the girl had fallen off a toilet and onto the bathroom floor, the affidavit reportedly said.
But authorities became suspicious when they found bruises that were in different stages of healing and pressure marks on the girl’s ankles.
Santos allegedly told detectives that Pena-Cantor ordered her son, Bing, to tie down the girl on the bed on Friday. After arguing with Pena-Cantor and Bing, Santos eventually took the girl to the hospital, the affidavit reportedly said. Santos was going to lie about what happened but later allegedly admitted the injuries happened at Welch’s home.
The two other children are in the custody of the Children, Youth, and Families Department. Police in Massachusetts reportedly believed Santos had been using drugs around her children, CBS affiliate KRQE reported.
New Mexico state Sen. Crystal Brantley called the news horrifying in an interview with KRQE.
“Today’s tragic news outrages me as a legislator and it disgusts me and bothers me very deeply as a mother,” Brantley said. “New Mexico needs to adopt stricter criminal laws that no one can come into this state and abuse any child in our state and have that tolerated.”
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