Albuquerque woman accused of letting infant son drown in bathtub

A woman told police she drank vodka and fell asleep after putting her 7-month-old son in the bathtub — allowing the boy to drown — Monday afternoon at an apartment in Southeast Albuquerque.

Edith Estrada-Sigala, 28, is charged with child abuse resulting in death, and was booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center. Her son is identified by his initials, A.D., in the charging documents.

Estrada-Sigala, who has other children, told police she had a “drinking problem” and left the boy unattended in the bath on prior occasions, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.

Officers responded sometime after 5 p.m. to an apartment in the 500 block of San Pablo SE, just south of Zuni, where fire crews were doing CPR on A.D. and “family was getting aggressive,” police said. All relatives were removed from the apartment and the boy died at the scene.

Estrada-Sigala initially told police that the baby had pneumonia over the past few weeks and she put him “down for a nap” before he stopped breathing, according to the complaint. Later, Estrada-Sigala broke down in tears and told police she fell asleep after putting A.D. in the tub.

Police said officers found 18 empty bottles of alcohol between the trash can, the mother’s bedroom and the bathroom where the boy drowned. Estrada-Sigala said she took her older son to school on Monday morning before she and A.D. returned home.

Estrada-Sigala told police she took a shot of vodka at 10 a.m. and decided to give A.D. a bath sometime after 2 p.m., the complaint states. She said she put the baby in the half-filled tub with his bath seat and toys.

Police said the mother told them she started doing laundry and laid down “with no intention of falling asleep” and was awakened by her mother several hours later. Estrada-Sigala said she believed A.D. was in his bassinet when she woke up but realized she left the baby in the tub, finding him “pale and blue” in the water.