Joslyn Asberry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On February 1, 2008 Alex Ortiz was babysitting his girlfriend’s three year old daughter, Joslyn Asberry, along with four other children, when paramedics were called to their home for a report of a child not breathing. Paramedics transported Joslyn to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The Denver coroner reports Joslyn died of multiple blunt force injuries due to non-accidental trauma. Three blows to the head and one to the abdomen killed 28 pound Joslyn Asberry. Joslyn's optic nerve was damaged, two ribs were broken, her liver was lacerated and she had multiple abrasions. She had been pushed or maybe thrown by her mother’s boyfriend into a television set. She stopped breathing, and Ortiz waited an hour before deciding to call for help.

 

When Denver police officers questioned Ortiz that morning, he said Joslyn fell. Then he said someone else may have entered the home and hurt Joslyn. One of Joslyn’s sisters, who was sleeping in the same room, told police that Ortiz “threw Joslyn.” During a second interview, Ortiz told them he pushed Joslyn, causing her to hit her head on the TV. Ortiz admitted he made two phone calls and waited an hour before he called 911. Joslyn died of multiple blunt force injuries.

 

Joslyn had been waiting for help most of her life. A year earlier, the Denver Department of Human Services noticed belt marks on one of Joslyn’s sisters from beatings administered by her mother, Keyona Gadison. She was sentenced to a year of supervised probation, but the children, five girls, were left in her care by caseworkers who believed she had sufficiently cooperated with the investigation and was on her way to improving as a parent. At the time, questions were raised about Gadison’s boyfriend, Alex Ortiz whose track record with police stretched back 12 years and included arrests for assault, domestic violence and drug possession. Gadison said he did not live at her home. Five months later, a therapist reported seeing Gadison pinch Joslyn’s sister during an appointment. Caseworkers determined that the report was unfounded.

 

Ortiz pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in death and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

 

 

 

 

 

http://childfatalities.denverpost.com/#id=2&name=AsberryJoslyn