Authorities say that the teen boyfriend of the girl’s mother bit her on the arm and the girl died on Sunday.
Evansville police were called to Destiny Rhoades’s apartment on Spring Valley Road on Friday, June 14, because her 4-year-old daughter Octavia Aquino was not responding and was “beyond help,” according to a news release on Facebook from the Evansville Police Department.
According to the release, the first cop who arrived at the scene said the girl was “cold to the touch.”
When the Evansville Fire Department got there, they started working right away to bring the kid back to life. The woman was taken to a nearby hospital “alive” but with “very little brain activity,” according to cops in Evansville.
Police say Rhoades was at work when their daughter was found out of it. Christian T. Gonzalez, 16, of Fort Wayne, was in the apartment with three other adult women who live there when Octavia was found, according to a follow-up press statement from police on Monday (June 17).
The four adults living there were taken to police headquarters and questioned by officers. The report says Gonzalez wasn’t interviewed at first because of his age.
Police say Rhoades told them that Octavia was sleeping when she left for work that morning at 7 a.m.
“A roommate stated that she noticed the child had bruises on her body (on Thursday,) specifically around her neck area,” the release states. “She also had a bite mark on her arm from a person.” The child’s 16-year-old boyfriend told police that he bit her, but only after she bit him first.
Then, one of the roommates told cops that Octavia “seemed to be staring off and was nauseous’ while in Rhoades’ care last night,” the news release says.
Police said Rhoades was arrested and first charged with neglecting a dependent person, which caused serious physical harm. When the child died on Sunday, the charge was changed to the neglect of a dependent ending in death.
González went to youth court for the first time on Monday and has been released to adult court.
Gonzalez was first charged as an adult with battery causing serious harm, and then he was charged with murder.
A body will be cut open for autopsy later this week.
While the police continue their investigation, Octavia’s family is dealing with her death.
Linda Alvarez, Octavia’s grandma, told the local news station WFIE, “I feel lost.” “I’m hurt.” She is one of the happiest, most lively, and sassy little girls I have ever met.
The baby’s mother told WFIE, “I don’t understand how anyone can hurt an innocent baby.” “She’s four.”
No one seems to know if Rhoades and Gonzalez have hired lawyers who can talk for them.
