Father and His Girlfriend Charged With Minnesota Child’s Death

Moorhead, MN (KROC-AM News) - Conditional bail was set today at $1 million dollars each for a man and woman in the case of a young Minnesota child who died earlier this year.

24-year-old Rosa Esperanza Garza and 22-year-old Shiann Lynn Erickson were formally charged this morning with second-degree murder for their alleged involvement in the death of Garza's three-year-old son. The child perished in the early hours of March 18 after he was rushed to a hospital in Fargo for treatment.

According to the criminal complaints, Moorhead Police and other emergency responders were dispatched to an apartment in Moorhead around 1 AM that morning and found a woman with an unresponsive little boy who appeared to have heavy bruising on his face and body. The woman in the apartment told police she had arrived about 20 minutes earlier at the request of the child's father, who indicated he was taking his girlfriend to the hospital.

The court documents say an autopsy determined the child died from blunt force injuries, including a blow to the abdomen that caused peritonitis due to a perforation of the victim's bowel. It also states the final autopsy report outlined evidence of 28 blunt force injuries and ruled the manner of death was homicide and the cause of death was assault.

The charges allege Garza and Erickson were the sole caregivers for the child during the time span when he suffered the fatal injury. The criminal complaint says investigators determined the victim had been vomiting for a couple of days prior to his death and a witness reported seeing bruises under his eye and a bloated swollen stomach, which Garza told the witness was caused by a fall from his bike.

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