The Denver Channel
Posted: 9:04 a.m. MDT June 25, 2002
Updated: 2:06 p.m. MDT June 25, 2002
DENVER -- Two adult caregivers were arrested Monday for leaving a child unattended in a hot car.
They took one infant with them inside the business and left two other small children outside of the car at the entrance to the business, Thorton police said.
Only Abel was left inside the car.
Police said that the outside air temperature at the time was approximately 93 degrees.
When the suspects returned to the car, they discovered the boy vomiting and very warm to the touch. They took him into the business and splashed cold water on him in an attempt to cool him down, but it did not work, Thornton police said.
Abel was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
He had recently been treated and released from an area hospital for an unknown illness, and had also recently seen a doctor for an unknown problem, police said.
If the autopsy determines heat was not a factor in his death, Lainez and Barrios could face lesser charges.
"The telltale thing will be the autopsy," Thornton police spokesman Matt Barnes said. "We don't know if the heat aggravated a pre-existing condition the child had."
According to the Colorado SAFE KIDS Coalition, a part of the Department of Public Health and Environment, a child's core body temperature can increase three to five times faster than that of an adult.
"When the outside temperature is 93 degrees Fahrenheit, even with a window cracked, the temperature inside a car can reach 125 degrees in just 20 minutes and approximately 140 degrees in 40 minutes," injury specialist Barbara Bailey said.
Lainez and Gutierrez-Barrios are being held at the Adams County Jail on $100,000 bail each.
Copyright 2002 by TheDenverChannel.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Rocky Mountain News
By Hector Gutierrez, News Staff Writer
June 25, 2002
THORNTON -- A 2-year-old boy died Monday after babysitters left him in a car when outdoor temperatures reached more than 93 degrees. The youngster died about 3:40 p.m. at North Suburban Medical Center. Cause of the boy's death hasn't been determined. An autopsy is planned. "That's going to be the big telltale here," Thornton police spokesman Matt Barnes said.
The baby sitters left the toddler while they met with an insurance agent. Police arrested Marco Antinio Ochoa Lainez, 31, and his girlfriend, Liliana Gutierrez Barrios, 28, both of Denver, for investigation of child abuse resulting in death. Each was being held at the Adams County Jail on $100,000 bail.
Barnes said the couple told detectives they left the toddler, who remained unidentified late Monday, inside their vehicle because he had gone to sleep.
The man and woman also told detectives that the child recently had been treated and released from a hospital for an unknown illness and had been in the care of a physician, Barnes said.
The police had not been able to talk to the parents late Tuesday, and the relationship of the babysitters to the parents had not been determined.
Witnesses told detectives they thought the child had been left in the car for a minimum of about 15 minutes and possibly for as long as 40 minutes, Barnes said.
Detectives decided they had enough information to arrest the couple on suspicion of child abuse resulting in death because the two left the youngster unattended and unsupervised, knowing that he was suffering from a pre-existing medical malady.
Moreover, the temperature inside the vehicle was higher than it was outside even though three of the vehicle's four windows were down, Barnes said. The temperature outside was 93 degrees during the afternoon.
Barnes said officers were called to the strip mall at 8933 Washington St. about 2:30 p.m. and discovered the youngster being treated by paramedics.
The couple had three other children with them, Barnes said. The toddler was left sleeping inside a four-door 1986 Mercury Grand Marquee while the two adults attended a meeting they had with an agent from American Family Insurance.
They took their 3-month-old son with them to their appointment, while the other two children, ages 7 and 3, played outside near the entrance of the business, police said.
After the appointment, the couple returned to their car and found the boy vomiting and warm to the touch, Barnes said. They took the child into the insurance business and tried to cool the toddler with cold water before calling for help.
Copyright 2002, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.
BRIGHTON -- The toddler who died Monday after being left in a vehicle while temperatures rose to 93 degrees had a body temperature of 107 degrees, hospital physicians said.
Abel Munoz, 33 months, died Monday afternoon at North Suburban Medical Center after the baby sitters found him slumped over and vomiting.
A doctor at the hospital told detectives that the tot's internal body temperature was 107 degrees after it had been iced, according to an arrest affidavit.
The baby sitters, Liliana Gutierrez Barrios, 28, and Marco A. Ochoa Lainez, 31, were advised Tuesday in Adams County court that they were being held on charges of child abuse resulting in death. Each remained at the Adams County Jail on $100,000 bail.
An autopsy is complete but authorities were waiting for toxicology reports, Thornton police spokesman Matt Barnes said.
Gutierrez and Ochoa told police they were meeting with an insurance agent at a strip mall in the 8900 block of Washington Street and left the boy asleep in the car. His 4-year-old sister and a 7-year-old child played outside the building, and the couple took their 3-month-old son inside.
The couple had left three windows of their four-door, 1986 Mercury Grand Marquis down. However, they left the window next to the child rolled up and put a towel on the window to block the sun, the affidavit said.
Witnesses told detectives that they thought the boy was in the car between 15 and 40 minutes. But the couple said they had left the child in the car for only about 10 minutes, the affidavit said.
Outside the Munoz's small Montbello apartment Tuesday, the boy's sister Oriana played with other children in the complex. She ran barefoot, wearing light brown overalls. She hid behind a soda machine with another young girl in pursuit, giggling. She smiled at a stranger and darted away with her friend still chasing her.
"She knows everything that happened," said Blanca Munoz, cousin of Francisco Munoz, Abel's 28-year-old father. "She repeats what happened over and over. But we try to keep her away from it all right now."
Blanca Munoz said it was the second time that Ochoa and Gutierrez watched the children. The couple are family friends.
Abel Munoz's parents stayed inside their apartment, declining to comment. Other family members milled around outside, and some were inside consoling the baby's parents.
"They are devastated," Blanca said of Abel's father and Iris Munoz, 28, the child's mother.
And they are waiting for details.
"The police said they will tell us everything (today)," Blanca said.
Blanca held a small picture of Abel.
"He was a really good boy," Blanca said. "He always says to his father that he really loves him, always kissed his sister and his mom when she goes to work."
Copyright 2002, Rocky Mountain News. All Rights Reserved.