Man arrested in beating death of 4-year-old nephew in northern New Mexico

A man is being charged federally in the death of his nephew after the boy’s body was found at the family’s home in northern New Mexico.

Randall Pablo, 36, is charged with abandonment and abuse of a child resulting in death. He was arrested Monday.

On Nov. 7, the FBI in Farmington was notified that a 4-year-old child had died under suspicious circumstances at a home in Counselor, west of Cuba, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the state of New Mexico.

The mother of the child told federal authorities that she had taken her other child to the doctor with her family and that Pablo was watching the boy, the complaint states.

The woman’s mother called Pablo around 2 p.m., but he did not answer, according to the complaint. A few hours later, the woman returned home and accused Pablo of being intoxicated and asked him where her son was.

Pablo told the woman he and the child had “been jumped and his nephew had been killed,” the complaint states. The woman saw the inside of her house was “disheveled with things thrown on the floor” and a bloody knife on the counter.

The boy’s body was found inside the home and he was pronounced dead by first responders. Federal authorities determined the child’s bruises were consistent with a “multiple blow attack,” the complaint states.

Federal authorities spoke with the Navajo Police Department, who had responded to the scene and found Pablo lying on the floor in a pool of blood, according to the complaint.

Pablo was taken to the hospital and a doctor determined that he sustained injuries to his left arm, the complaint states.

Pablo told federal authorities that his nephew was unresponsive when he came out of the bathroom. After Pablo failed to revive the child, he told authorities he tried to kill himself, according to the complaint.

Federal authorities investigated and did not see any signs of forced entry into the home, the complaint states. An autopsy showed the boy suffered “significant blunt force trauma to the head.”