Babysitter's Sleeping Bag Game Turns Fatal

Sitter Arraigned On Murder Charges After Accidentally Swinging Toddler Into Door Jamb

(CBS/AP)  Hardworking mom Julie Adkins-Gasque never worried when her 19-month-old son, Elijah, sported a fresh bruise while she picked him up at her baby sitter's apartment.

He just played rough with her sitter's son, she thought. And she trusted the sitter, 25-year-old Yalines Torres, who was a friend with whom she sometimes shopped.

On Thursday, Askins-Gasque buried her battered son in a frozen grave while Torres faced a judge in nearby Hartford to answer to a murder charge.

"What, did he cry too much for her? I don't know why she would do it," Adkins-Gasque said, after joining several dozen friends and family members for Elijah's funeral. "I'm angry. I'm confused. I'm blank sometimes. I miss my son."

Hartford Superior Judge Carl Taylor set Torres' bond at $1 million on Thursday and granted defense attorney Claudia Jones' request to continue a suicide watch at the jail.

Torres was initially charged with risk of injury to a minor and reckless endangerment. CBS News Affiliate WFSB reports that the public defender had initially been able to secure Torres' release Tuesday on a bond of $200,000. She was then re-arrested late Wednesday and charged with capitol felony, a murder charge that carries a possible death penalty or life in prison without parole if she is convicted.

Torres, who was shackled and dressed in jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt, didn't speak during her court appearance Thursday, but was overcome with emotion and had to sit down.

Jones declined comment after the hearing. A family friend, Mayra Velazquez of Hartford, said she didn't believe Torres was guilty.

"She's a good mother," Velazquez said through an interpreter. "She takes care of her kids."

Police said Elijah was fatally injured Friday evening when Torres swung him around in a sleeping bag and his head smacked a door frame. She called Adkins-Gasque at work and told her that Elijah had a seizure and collapsed during a game of ring-around-the-rosy, according to a police report.

When police arrived, Torres made conflicting statements to them about the injury, saying that her own 2-year-old son struck him in the head with a xylophone toy and that Elijah may have been hurt when he fell after she twirled him in the air and set him down.

But after more questioning, police said Torres said Elijah was injured in a game in which she bundled him in a closed sleeping bag and she jogged through her apartment with the bag slung over her shoulder.

Going through one doorway, Torres lost her balance and the bag struck the door frame twice, police said. When she opened the bag, Elijah was pale and not breathing, according to the police report.

He died at a hospital the next day. A police report noted Elijah had a skull fracture and bleeding in the brain, and the medical examiner's office ruled the death a homicide.

Police said Torres admitted that she had initially lied about the boy's injuries because people would think she intentionally hurt the boy if she told the truth.

Adkins-Gasque said Thursday she met Torres two months ago through a friend and she watched Elijah as much as five days a week. WFSB spoke to Adkins-Gasque's mother who told the reporter that Torres was paid $2 an hour to watch Elijah. Adkins-Gasque noticed fresh bruises four or five times, but Torres explained that Elijah fought with her son over a toy.

"I thought she was letting her son get out of control," she said. "I thought that's just the way it was."

Adkins-Gasque said she wasn't suspicious until last Thursday, when Elijah came home with a fresh bruise on his forehead. But she left her son with Torres on Friday because she had to work. That night, Elijah was fatally injured.

She's happy that her former friend faces a murder charge.

"It lightens my heart a little bit," Adkins-Gasque said. "I feel that is fair. Hopefully that's the way it will stay, that she will be charged to the fullest extent of the law."

[erasmus6]

Anyone who gets someone to look after their kids when they don''t know them is very stupid or very desperate.

Years ago a woman came to my door and asked me if I would look after her kids because her husband was holding down 2 jobs and she also had a job and no one to look after her kids. I was shocked that someone would ask someone they didn''t know to look after their kids.

I finally figured out that it was her husband that had been stalking me! I would drive my kids and the neighbor kids to school everyday and also pick them up. While I was standing outside with the kids waiting for them to go in, I noticed a man standing there with sunglasses on. He seemed to be always looking at me. Then I started noticing that he was following me home. I also noticed that he was on my street with his kids and I knew he didn''t live on my street. This must have been their way of getting to know me, watching my every move.

[oldpilot954]

While it is easy to point fingers, we really do not know what happened. Yes, kids get bruises playing with other kids. Yes, the mom should have been concerned earlier. But put yourself into the mom''s position -- this sitter was a friend (admittedly a new one); the sitter''s child did not show signs of abuse (we assume); the economics for a single mother demand that you have a job (which precludes staying home with your child); IF you could afford a licensed day-care, there is a waiting list for getting into one in my part of the country. The child''s death may have been totally a case of bad judgement or it could have been deliberate abuse. Either way it is a sad occurrance and my heart goes out to those involved. Those who say you would not leave your child with someone who you had known for only 2 months have never been in the situation. No family, no long-term friends, no job if you don''t go to work, no place to live if you don''t make money -- suddenly 2 months seems like a much longer time to know someone.

[facts6]

For those of you without small children, you should know competent child care in the Southwest costs a bit over 1,000 per month, per child. This mother did the best she could with what she had. Yes, there should be sliding scale child care centers. My grandchildren are in the 1,000/mo care because their mother postponed motherhood until her career was fully established.

[mo005]

scarletphd; I''ve never seen a blogger argue with them selves. cool, let us know who wins.

[closethippy1]

This case is a proper example of why we need government sponsored day cares. Also, it behooves this country to mandate at-work day care.
Anyone disagreeing with this should be placed in a bag and swang against a door to see how they like being handled by an incompetent sitter.

[shanev137]

Just looking at the picture...she looks like a psycho.

[spaspy]

i would never leave my child, no matter their age, with a person i only met 2 months ago! what an idiot! its her fault! no one else should be blamed!!!

[gmond]

Children should be seen and not hurt.

[rowdytexan2]

How very sad! Condolences to this young mother!

[erasmus6]

"Ok, I''''m no medical expert, but if you lost your balance would it really hit the kid''''s head hard enough to cause a skull fracture? I carried my son down the stairs and fell, hitting his poor head on the wall several times on the way down, and he only had a bruise, and he was only 2 months." posted by akpals


There is no way of knowing what will cause a skull fracture. It just depends on how hard they hit something, where on the head they hit and what they hit.

[kennergirl]

I''m sorry but I can''t believe that story the babysitter had him on her back and hit a door frame. I''ve heard of accidents before while watching kids because things happen but to have bruises on this kid numerous times like that? Sounds like this kid was getting knocked around a lot to me. I''ll be damned if my kid would come home with bruises and I wouldn''t say something about it (and find another babysitter!)

[akpals]

Ok, I''m no medical expert, but if you lost your balance would it really hit the kid''s head hard enough to cause a skull fracture? I carried my son down the stairs and fell, hitting his poor head on the wall several times on the way down, and he only had a bruise, and he was only 2 months. I think it''s a weak explanation of how that severe of an injury could happen. Maybe it did happen the way she said it did, and then a murder charge is total BS, but at almost 2 the kid had to be tougher than that. If other kids get only minor injuries from some car wrecks, piniata misshaps, stairs, bikes, and all the other things that can happen, how could hitting his head on a door frame kill him? Doesn''t really add up.

[likeitis5050]

MY SON IS NOW 27, AND IF I WAS TO SEE A FRESH BRUISE ON HIM AND HE IS GRWON, I WOULD QUESTION, INVESTIGATE, AND WANT AN ANSWER FOR SOMEONE HURTING MY BABY.

At 27? Ya think?

[likeitis5050]

she wasn''t suspicious until last Thursday, when Elijah came home with a fresh bruise on his forehead. But she left her son with Torres on Friday because she had to work.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

[eersgirl725]

Playing rough has nothing to do with this, this woman is not a responsible person.

First, the kid got hurt badly enough to leave a bruise on his forehead Thursday, so Friday she decides to play that game again. Lots of people play rough with kids, most just know to take it easy or stop if they get hurt.

And then she wasnt sure if he was hurt most from the playing or from her child hitting him with a toy. Most people would know which injury was bad enough to be fatal. Or for that matter, not put the injured child in a position to be hit with a toy.

But I do agree with JennMarie, I dont think this was intentional at all and manslaughter may be a bit more fitting. Murder is premeditated.

[hollyt2-2009]

Im sorry but I think both sides have a few holes in them. I dont think the blow to the head was intentional. I remember as a child my relatives use to pick me up by one leg and arm and swing me like an airplane.one time my uncle tripped and I wemt into a wall and broke my teeth. that was an accident now they would call it abuse.It was really in fun and I loved it until I got hurt. I put my sister in a pillow case and zipped it.That too was what we did for fun. we laugh about the old things we use to do and what it looks like in todays world.we made our own fun because we didnt have tthe electronics they do today.. I hope it turns out to be just a horrible accident.

[zootallures2]

Stupid is as stupid does.

[dartha1]

I PERSONALLY DON''T BELEIVE THAT THE BABYSITTER WAS JUST PLAYING. YOU CAN SUFFOCATE IN A CLOSED BAG OF ANY KIND. AS A FORMR SINGLE TEENAGE MOTHER, I CAN UNDERSTAND THE NEED FOR CARE. THANK GOD I HAD A LOVING SUPPORTIVE FAMILY. THERE WERE SIGNS OF ABUSE EARLIER THAT THE MOTHER DID NOT PAY CLOSE ENOUGH ATTENTION TO. MY SON IS NOW 27, AND IF I WAS TO SEE A FRESH BRUISE ON HIM AND HE IS GRWON, I WOULD QUESTION, INVESTIGATE, AND WANT AN ANSWER FOR SOMEONE HURTING MY BABY. SOME MAY CALL ME OVERPROTECTIVE, I CALL IT LOVE. FOR SOME KIDS, THEIR MOM IS ALL THEY HAVE, SO IT''S OUR JOB TO PROTECT THEM.

[jennmarie620]

I feel bad for everyone involved in this situation. The babysitter was playing with the child, and I doubt she hurt him intentionally. The mother was trying to provide a life for her son, and had to utilize cheap, in-home daycare. This little boy died tragically when he didn''t have to. That being said, the mother should have been more diligent and responsible about her son''s previous injuries - and the babysitter should have called paramedics as soon as she realized the boy was injured. He could have been saved had she done that - that''s probably why they are charging her with murder. Though I think manslaughter would be a more appropriate charge. I don''t think the babysitter should go unpunished for the neglect shown after the baby was injured - but she''s not a monster either. And this mother should have done something to make sure her son wasn''t hurt - especially after he''d been injured so many times before.

As a single mother, I understand the burden of expensive daycare - and I am lucky enough to have a family friend who has been babysitting children for over thirty years available to watch my daughter after she gets out of school for only $25 a week - but my son''s daycare is $125 a week at a licensed center. Any child under two years of age should be with licensed professionals - if only for the protection the minimal state regulations can provide.

[keithle1]

Take care of your own kids. Don''t dump them on babysitters. All they care about is a paycheck.