A year after a 2-year-old boy was found dead in Delano, police have arrested the child's mother for murder. 17 News has obtained court documents that reveal new details in the boy's death.
It took investigators a year to make an arrest in the death of Juan Felix. Delano Police say they are still not done because a suspect is still on the loose.
22 year-old Noemi Mendoza is facing first degree murder and willful cruelty to a child charges. Both charges are felonies. This comes a year after her son was found unresponsive inside his Delano apartment on 5th Avenue.
"Evidence seems to indicate that she had some knowledge of what was going on. We believe she contributed to the cause of this child's death," said Sgt. Eddie Perez, Delano Police Department.
At the time of Juan's death, Mendoza was considered a person of interest. There was no arrest, but her other two children were taken by Child Protective Services.
"This was not the first CPS report that came her way. Actually, there was approximately five inches of CPS reports we had put together. There was numerous contacts with her involving different incidents of abuse," said Sgt. Perez.
Delano Police told 17 News that CPS reports indicate Mendoza's two oldest children had been taken by CPS before.
Court documents describe what led up to Juan's death. In those documents, detectives say the child's 4-year-old brother told police his mother's live-in boyfriend, Cesar Osuna, had stomped on Juan's stomach before the boy was taken to the hospital.
An autopsy revealed the child had broken ribs and a skull fracture. Photos show a bruise on his back appeared to be in the shape of a fist with a ring. Detectives say when they interviewed Osuna, he was wearing the ring on his left hand.
Detectives are still looking for Osuna. They are tracking his whereabouts on Facebook. They believe he's involved with Mexican drug cartels and may be living south of the border, but he visits the Central Valley.
Anyone with information on Osuna, should call Detective Heriberto Trigo at 721-3356.
Mendoza is expected to make her first court appearance Tuesday.
