Marisela Barajas

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marisela Barajas was only nine days old when her and four siblings were taken from her parents and  placed in a foster home while complaints of abuse against Marisela 14 year old sister Erica, was were investigated. Then, after almost a year and a half of intervention, a family counselor reported Barajas and her husband, Antonio Barajas, had successfully completed family counseling and could provide a safe home for their children. Marisela and her five year old brother Johnathan were returned to their parents. That decision proved fatal.

 

Frustrated by the Marisela's misbehavior and angered when Marisela bit her mother's hand when she tried to hug the her Maria Barajas shook Marisela so hard that her eyes hemorrhaged, she beat her or slammed her against something hard enough to crack her skull. Marisela passed out, but rather than take her to the hospital, Barajas asked her sister to babysit her children while she when to work. Barajas told her sister that Marisela had fallen and that she didn't want to take her to the hospital because she was afraid of the consequences by child welfare workers.

 

Marisela, was pronounced dead on June 4,1997 at Valley Presbyterian Hospital. Child abuse detectives say she suffered multiple injuries, some of which were consistent with shaken baby syndrome. Antonio Barajas, said he believes Marisela died accidentally from a fall down the stairs outside their home, just as his wife said. He said the worst thing his wife did was not call paramedics afterward. She couldn't because she does not speak English and does not know how to use the telephone, he said. Maria Barajas was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

 

http://articles.latimes.m/1998/apr/20/local/me-41151