Brianna Mariah Lopez

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brianna's story is a hard one, but it is the ugly reality of child abuse.  Violent family members caused her death while others hid what they knew was going on. This tiny angel was beaten and raped by her own family.

 

Brianna Lopez who is also known to many as “Baby Brianna”, was a baby girl who was born in a New Mexico hospital on Valentine’s Day, 2002 to Stephanie Lopez and Andy Walters. When Brianna left the hospital after her birth she moved into a home in Las Cruces, N.M. shared by her parents and Uncle, Steven Lopez.  The abuse started almost immediately. Instead of hugs and kisses Brianna received slaps and pinches. In her short 5 months of life, she was thrown in the air, slammed on the ground, repeatedly bitten and sexually penetrated by her father and uncle.She was tormented on a daily basis, both verbally and physically. Slapped, kicked, punched, pinched, thrown, raped, etc. You name it this little girl endured it.

 

When Brianna would cry at the pain that was inflicted on her, her abusers would laugh and stuff her mouth with clothing to muffle her screams. Her own mother would bite and pinch her when she got frustrated by the crying, but for the most part it was Brianna’s father and uncle who tormented her while Stephanie sat back and ignored her daughter’s cries.Many relatives including Brianna’s grandparents knew what was occurring but ignored it. They knew their granddaughter was being raped by both her father and uncle, they knew she had pinch marks from head to toe in different stages of healing, they knew she was being tormented and had marks, cuts and lacerations but they turned a blind eye and let it continue for five, going on six more months until Brianna’s little body couldn’t handle the abuse any longer.

 

Her father and uncle threw her to the ceiling and watched as she hit the ground, over and over again.  “They raped her, they beat her,” said District Attorney Susana Martinez who prosecuted the case.  “Literally bruised from head to toe, from the top of her head all throughout her body all the way to the big toe on her right foot.  She had bite marks on her face, cheek, head, arms, legs, chest, and torso, everywhere.”  After her arrest, her mother admitted to biting her baby repeatedly. “She sustained massive injuries, both internal as well as external.  She had bruising all over her head and face, and her little fingers and toes were lacerated,” said Detective Lindell Wright who was the first officer on the scene. Brianna was rushed to the hospital where she was pronounced dead at 11:10AM. She was just 5 months and 5 days old.

 

The autopsy showed her anus and vagina were both injured. She had a significant abrasion on her buttocks, which went all the way into the buttocks, that was consistent with sexual assault. Immediately after she was pronounced dead, a nurse observed that her anus gaped open with no muscle tone. The autopsy revealed her anal opening was dilated to a full inch. Internal examination showed an injury a half-inch to an inch inside the anal opening and vaginal injuries inside the labia minora, including three small injuries to the hymen. Her small body was literally covered from head to toe in bruises and bite marks. Brianna also had bleeding on her brain, both old and new, as well as broken ribs, broken legs, broken arms and lacerations to her fingers. She had been abused everyday of her short life.

 

Police arrested Brianna’s parents, Stephanie Lopez and Andy Walters and uncle, Steven Lopez. They were each charged with child abuse resulting in death. Walters also was charged with criminal sexual penetration of Brianna. Stephanie Lopez was sentenced to 27 years for counts of negligent child abuse resulting in death, and child abuse. But because of credit for time served, she can be paroled after 13.5 years. Walters and Steven Lopez, had more serious convictions so they won't be eligible for release from prison till 2042 and 2039.

 

The following is a timeline of events according to police documents:

*Thursday night, July 18th, at 6 p.m., Andy Walters stopped to buy a case of beer, and headed home to 5243 Comanche Trail in Las Cruces.

Three people– Walters, 21, Stephanie Lopez, 19, and her twin brother Steven Lopez, 19, drink through the evening.

 

*Stephanie went to bed after about three beers. According to court documents, Andy Walters and Steven Lopez admitted to playing with Stephanie and Walters’s five month old daughter, Brianna.

Police records show that Walters and Lopez threw the child into the air, causing her to hit her head on the ceiling 3 times, then dropped her twice on the floor.

 

*Andy Walters told investigators that Brianna was conscious and crying.

 

*At around 12:30 a.m., Friday morning, Andy Walters fell asleep not knowing where Brianna was.

 

*At three in the morning, Walters says he awoke to find Brianna on the floor near the bed. He said he wrapped her in a blanket and put her in a bouncer.

*By 7 a.m., Brianna needed a diaper change. Stephanie Lopez asked about the bruises on Brianna, and according to court documents, Walters admitted that he and Steven Lopez “played a little rough with her”.

 

*Walters changed the diaper and took a baby wipe, wrapped it around his index finger and inserted it into Brianna’s anus.
The complaint also states Andy Walters admitted he bit Brianna on several occasions, but he told Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Deputies he is not the only family member to bite Brianna.

 

*Walters also told authorities that Stephanie Lopez pinched and threw Brianna out of frustration.

 

*The uncle, Steven Lopez, admits to throwing Brianna in the air and not catching her. Steven Lopez claims to have drunk ten beers the previous night.

During his interview with Sheriff’s Deputies, Steven Lopez admitted to having sex with Brianna Lopez. (she was 5 months old!!!) Adding that he, as well as Andy Walters, had penetrated Brianna on several different occasions.

 

*By 10 a.m., July 19th, Stephanie Lopez checks on her daughter, notices Brianna is not breathing, and she calls 9-1-1.

*11:10 am, Friday July 19th, five month old Brianna Lopez dies at Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces.

 

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