Couple Held in Death of Foster Child

GLENDALE — A Glendale couple have been arrested on suspicion of beating to death a 19-month-old child placed in their care by county authorities, police said Thursday.

Maria Del Carmen Elizabeth Paz, 29, and Fernando Enriquez Paz, 34, were expected to be charged with murder today. They were arrested Tuesday night at their home, after an autopsy by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office concluded that the child died of head trauma, said Sgt. Jon Perkins, who is investigating the case.

“What has happened here is incredible,” Perkins said Thursday. “There is clear indication that this child was seriously abused. He had injuries all over his body.”

Police also believe the couple may have physically abused a twin brother of the dead boy, who was also in their care. Officers are also investigating whether their two biological children, a 9-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl, were mistreated.

All three are basically healthy and have been placed in protective custody by the county Department of Children’s Services, police said.

Paramedics took the child, whom police identified only by his first name, Julio, to Glendale Adventist Medical Center about 7 p.m. last Friday, after the parents called 911 because he had stopped breathing.

Julio was in critical condition for two days, clinging to life on a respirator. He was then transferred to the infant critical care unit at Huntington Memorial Hospital, where doctors noticed suspicious bruises on his body and called police.

The boy died at 10:56 a.m. Sunday. Police said they arrested the parents after the autopsy was completed Tuesday.

The couple were being held at the Glendale city jail on $1 million bail each.

Julio and his brother were born prematurely and given up for adoption by their biological mother. The boys had been in the Pazes’ care for the past five months, police said.

The Pazes have been foster parents for about nine months, and had previously taken two other foster children into their home.

The family has lived in its single family home in a middle-class neighborhood for about five years, and there have been no previous reports of abuse or domestic violence there, Perkins said. Fernando Enriquez Paz works two jobs, as an insurance verifier at a hospital, and as a clerical aide in the emergency room of another hospital, and his wife is a homemaker, Perkins said.

Perkins said Glendale police would present the case to the district attorney’s office today, seeking murder charges against the couple, who could be arraigned today or Monday.

“We are anticipating all kinds of defenses,” Perkins said. “In cases like this it is not unusual for the parents to claim the injuries were a natural result of falling repeatedly while learning to walk, or falling down the stairs, or related to the fact that the baby was born prematurely. But there is clear evidence of abuse. Other than its injuries, the baby appeared healthy and normally developed.”