Mother arrested in alleged beating death of 18-month-old girl

A woman is behind bars and accused of killing her infant daughter at the family's home on Saturday.

Vanessa Chavez, 40, is charged with child abuse resulting in death. She has been booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center. It is unclear if Chavez has an attorney.

Chavez's other child told police that the mother threw the 18-month-old girl against a wall, according to a criminal complaint filed in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court.

Albuquerque police spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said officers responded Saturday to a call about "an unresponsive baby" at a home in the 5600 block of Cleghorn NW, near Ladera and Coors.

"First responders were not able to revive the baby and she was declared to be deceased," he said.

Gallegos said the baby showed signs of bruising on her head, arm and leg. An autopsy later found "a large subdural hemorrhage that was likely caused by trauma."

Chavez and the baby's father denied abusing the girl, but a sibling told detectives that Chavez hit the baby against a wall, according to the criminal complaint.

Gallegos said detectives learned the baby had been born drug-exposed and placed into the custody of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department.

The girl was "recently returned to her birth parents," he said.

Jessica Preston, a CYFD spokesperson, released a statement that said two of the family's three children had previously been in the agency's custody.

On June 18, she said, the attorneys for Chavez and her husband moved to dismiss the prior abuse and neglect case against them "citing the parents’ compliance with their court-ordered reunification plan."

Preston said the Guardian ad litem, CYFD representatives, social workers with the Office of Family Representation and Advocacy and the presiding judge "raised no objections" to the dismissal. She said judge signed the order to dismiss on July 21.

"The death of this child is a tragedy of immeasurable proportions. This outcome could not have been predicted by any of the parties involved in this case," Preston said. CYFD extends its deepest condolences to all those affected by this loss."