Luz Valdez

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isidoro Valdez dropped his infant daughter Luz Valdez three times and child protection workers ruled them accidents. Then, on Dec. 28, 2007 he killed her. Valdez shook three month old Luz until she was unconscious. Mary Campos and Isidoro Valdez, brought three-month-old Luz Valdez to the hospital Emergency Room. Doctors found major internal head bleeding which was believed to be the result of abuse. Luz was stabilized and transferred to Children’s Hospital where she died two days later. Valdez admitted to having shaken Luz. Valdez pleaded guilty to child abuse causing death and was sentenced to 36 years in prison.

 

The Denver Department of Human Services had received at least four reports of suspected abuse or neglect occurring in Luz’s family. Two of them were received months before Luz was even born. Caseworkers had contact with Luz twice during her short life. The children’s mother, Mary Campos, who had a history of methamphetamine use, threatened her three children in an emergency room. While Campos was pregnant with Luz, her fourth child, allegations of abuse and concerns about her ability to care for her children continued to stack up.

 

Two months after Luz Valdez was born, Campos asked for help. During a medical appointment for her older son, Campos also asked the doctor to examine Luz. Campos told the doctor that Valdez dropped Luz three times and was placing the infant in dangerous positions, such as on the edge of the couch. A caseworker met with the family at their Denver home. Campos told caseworkers she thought Valdez may have been placing Luz in the positions on purpose. Without talking to Valdez, the caseworker determined that he probably never dropped Luz but repeatedly “placed the baby in precarious positions and she fell,” the review said.   A month later, Luz was brought to the emergency room with major head trauma. Luz lost her life because caseworkers failed to consider the family’s history and other factors when determining whether Luz was safe.

 

 

 

 

 

http://childfatalities.denverpost.com/#id=63&name=ValdezLuz