A 2-year-old child who died earlier this year suffered what a detective described in a court document as the worst injuries he has ever seen in his career, leading to the arrests of the boy’s mother and her boyfriend who were caring for the toddler.
Luis Dejesus, 24, and Alyjah Almodovar, 21, each face charges in connection with the death of the child , who has not been identified, according to the Bristol Police Department .
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, officers responded to a residence on Davis Drive on Jan. 9 for a medical call involving a report that a child had fallen down the stairs. When officers arrived they found Dejesus and Almodovar tending to the child, who reportedly had brown vomit coming from his mouth, a weak pulse and showed signs of agonal, or labored, breathing, the warrant affidavit said.
The child received medical attention at the scene before being taken to Bristol Hospital. Officers who helped the boy said they spotted bruising on his stomach that they found suspicious before he went to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:20 p.m., the warrant affidavit said. The child also reportedly had a small laceration and bruising on his cheeks, according to the warrant affidavit.
Two charged after death of Bristol 2-year-old, allegedly a result of physical abuse
An autopsy would later find that the child died of blunt injuries to his torso and his death was ruled a homicide, the warrant affidavit said. The medical examiner’s report noted dozens of blunt injuries to his head, torso and extremities as well as an internal bleed that would not have killed him instantly, the court document said. The bleed could have started anywhere between an hour before his death or lasted as long as four days, according to the warrant affidavit.
Police secured the home as a crime scene and interviewed both Dejesus and Almodovar, the latter of whom was identified in the warrant affidavit as the mother of the child.
Dejesus and Almodovar both told investigators the child ate breakfast that morning around 9:30 a.m. before going upstairs to watch TV around 11 a.m., the warrant affidavit said. They said they later heard the boy falling down the stairs and that they rushed over to see if he was OK.
Dejesus reportedly told investigators the boy appeared dazed and looked like he was going to throw up but was trying to hold it in, the warrant affidavit said. He alleged that the bruising on the child’s stomach was caused by him pressing on it in an attempt to help him vomit, police wrote in the warrant affidavit.
Dejesus said Almodovar was hesitant to call 911 at first because she felt the bruising would look suspicious, but he insisted police would understand that he was only trying to help the child, the warrant affidavit said.
During interviews with investigators, both Dejesus and Almodovar alleged that the boy had not been eating well for the past five days or so and sometimes needed to be force-fed, the warrant affidavit said. They also alleged that he frequently would hold in his vomit, causing him to choke, so they would have to grab his mouth and force him to throw up or press on his stomach, according to the warrant affidavit.
At the hospital, a detective inspected the toddler’s body and noted that bruising to his abdomen, face, cheeks, head, back, legs and arms appeared “highly suspicious,” as the bruises were all in various stages of healing, the warrant affidavit said.
“The amount of bruising and injuries on (the child) were the worst that I have seen as an investigator in my career,” a detective wrote.
Authorities later obtained a warrant to search the Davis Drive residence in an attempt to further piece together what led to the child’s death. Inside the home, police noted there was not much furniture, barely any toys for a child and that multiple bedrooms had mattresses on the floor with no bed frames, the warrant affidavit said.
Inside the kitchen sink, authorities allege they found a paper towel that appeared to have blood on it. They found another paper towel with apparent blood inside an upstairs bedroom with a crib in the room, the warrant affidavit said.
Detectives at the scene suspected something may have happened in the bedroom that contributed to the child’s death and that the story about the boy falling down the stairs could have been fabricated, the warrant affidavit said.
While searching the home, authorities also reported finding 46 Alprazolam pills — commonly used to treat anxiety and panic disorders — that were not in a prescription container, according to the warrant affidavit. Police seized the pills, noting that they are commonly sold and used as a recreational drug.
Police also said they found a backpack in the home with two loaded 9 mm handguns inside and 300 bags of suspected heroin/fentanyl, the warrant affidavit said. Police noted that the guns did not have trigger locks to prevent a child from firing them. One of the guns had been reported stolen from South Carolina.
Authorities said they opened a separate investigation into the firearms and suspected narcotics and, the warrant affidavit said. They noted Dejesus is barred from having firearms based on a prior felony conviction and that guns are prohibited in the Davis Drive housing complex.
During the investigation, detectives spoke to the toddler’s great-grandparents, who said they had raised the child since he was born to allow for Almodovar to focus on school and getting a good job so she could find a nice home to raise her children, the warrant affidavit said. They said the child was a picky eater and would sometimes gag if they gave him something he didn’t like, but that they would find him something else to eat. They also said they never had to force-feed him or noticed any issues with him having to vomit often.
The great-grandparents told police the boy was unable to live with them recently, as they had to unexpectedly move, and that when they were ready to have him live with them again around Christmas they were told Almodovar wanted to take care of the boy and bond with him for the holidays.
During an analysis of Almodovar’s cell phone, authorities found text messages between her and Dejesus in which they allegedly talked about physically disciplining the boy, which they referred to as “popping,” the warrant affidavit said. Police described popping as “hitting” or “spanking.”
In February, Almodovar and two attorneys arranged an interview with investigators to tell “the truth” about what happened, according to the warrant affidavit. Almodovar admitted to detectives that the boy never fell down the stairs and that she only said he did because she was scared and did not know what to do, police wrote.
The morning the toddler died, Almodovar alleged that Dejesus appeared “extra frustrated,” the warrant affidavit said. She described an incident after breakfast when Dejesus allegedly forced the child to lie on his back on the floor with his hands behind his back as if he were handcuffed, according to the warrant affidavit.
Despite the boy appearing uncomfortable, Dejesus instructed him not to move, Almodovar told police. She said the way he was telling him not to move resembled the way one would speak to a dog, the warrant affidavit said.
Almodovar told investigators the boy at some point rolled over onto his stomach to get more comfortable and that Dejesus, frustrated that he moved, allegedly punched him in the stomach and the leg, according to the warrant affidavit. She said the punch appeared “hard” and led to the boy losing consciousness, police wrote.
Almodovar said she could hear the boy gasping for air and that she waited about five to 10 minutes before calling 911 because Dejesus allegedly instructed her not to do so, the warrant affidavit said.
Almodovar also alleged that Dejesus assaulted her in late January when she believed she was pregnant after she brought up the possibility that he could have caused the death of the toddler, according to the warrant affidavit. That incident allegedly occurred in Hartford, where investigators obtained a warrant for Dejesus’ arrest.
Bristol detectives said their investigation found that both Dejesus and Almodovar were allegedly abusing the boy in the days before he died and that the abuse led to his death, the warrant affidavit said. Detectives said his extensive injuries showed that he was being “tortured, tormented and treated poorly,” according to the warrant affidavit.
“It is evident that both (Dejesus and Almodovar) knew of their wrongdoing and fabricated stories to cover up their actions made toward (the boy),” detectives wrote in the warrant affidavit.
Almodovar was arrested last Monday and charged with intentional cruelty to persons and risk of injury to a minor. She is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail and is scheduled to appear before a judge next Tuesday in New Britain Superior Court.
Dejesus was arrested last Friday and charged with first-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault, risk of injury to a child, intentional cruelty to persons and providing a false statement. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bail and is expected to appear in court on Aug. 27.
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