A mother from Ohio was charged with murder after a 7-year-old boy died at his own home, the stepfather was charged with endangering children, according to ABC 6.
Victim of abuse
The police officers from Columbus responded to a call about a child who appeared to have drowned on May 23, around 8 p.m. The police found the child, Fabian Maldonado-Cortez unresponsive.
The child was immediately taken to Nationwide Children's Hospital, he was in a critical condition and was unfortunately pronounced dead around 10 p.m. The investigators concluded that the boy had suffered severe abuse which ultimately led to his death., according to ABC 6.
The child's mother, Oneida Maldonado-Cortez, 24-years-old, was charged with murder and the child's stepfather, Jose Emanuel Santos Perez, 37-years-old, was charged with endangering children.
According to the court documents reported by WBNS, Maldonado-Cortez admitted that she did beat the boy multiple times and she never took him to the hospital to recover.
Santos Perez told the authorities that he saw Maldonado-Cortez beat the child with different objects for months, but he was too afraid to call the police because he does not want her to go to prison.
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According to the authorities, the child had several wounds and lacerations, but it was not clear if the boy drowned when they found him.
Similar Incident
In December 2012, a 7-year-old boy from Las Vegas was beaten to death by his mother and stepfather, all because he did not read his Bible. The suspects, Markiece Palmer and Dina Palmer were charged with murder and numerous counts of child abuse and neglect, according to the Daily Mail.
The 7-year-old boy, Roderick Arrington, was immediately taken to the University Medical Center. He was unconscious when he arrived and his brain was swelling, the died in the hospital after 24 hours. The family moved to Las Vegas from Illinois.
The boy lived with his grandmother and father before he was taken by his mother and stepfather. The stepfather, Markiece Palmer, told the authorities that he had spanked the boy for lying about reading a Bible verse and for not finishing his homework. He claimed that the child slipped and hit his head on the floor.
According to the details of the arrest report, the boy had extensive injuries, including bruises all over the boy's body and open wounds on his buttocks, which is a result of being beaten with a leather belt. The authorities reported that the boy was also violently shaken by his stepfather.
When the child was unresponsive, the mother called her pastor, who then told her to call 911. She then told the authorities that she had hit her son repeatedly with a paddle and belt in November, and she called them "whoops."
The two suspects admitted that they had beaten the child for not reading the Bible and for not finishing his homework. The couple was jailed without bail at the Clark County Detention Center.
In the United States, more than four children die daily due to abuse and neglect, according to DoSomething.Org
Over 70% of the children who died are below 3-years-old. Every year, around 2.9 million cases are reported. A report also showed that 80% of 21-year-olds who experienced abuse as a child has at least one psychological disorder.
