Son's eyewitness account leads to mother's arrest in death of 18-month-old daughter

A 7-year-old boy’s eyewitness account of his baby sister being slammed against a wall helped lead to the arrest of the children’s 40-year-old mother late Wednesday.

The 18-month-old girl, who had been born drug-exposed and premature, died Aug. 2 at the family’s West Side Albuquerque home, according to a criminal complaint. The child had bruising on the left side of her forehead, her left cheek, and the left side of her head above her ear. There was also reddish-purple discoloration on her right cheek, upper left arm and right foot and ankle.

Just weeks earlier, the child had been returned to the custody of her parents by a state Children’s Court judge at a hearing with all parties consenting, including the state Children, Youth and Families Department, according to a CYFD spokeswoman.

Prior to that, the child — identified as EM — had been in state custody, living with a foster parent.

The mother, Vanessa Chavez, is facing a charge of child abuse resulting in death and prosecutors have asked that Chavez remain jailed until resolution of the case. A court hearing on that request is pending.

Chavez also has a 6-month-old child, according to a criminal complaint filed by Albuquerque police.

A criminal complaint states that officers responded to a call that the child’s father, Gregory Montoya, was performing CPR on his daughter outside a bedroom. Montoya reported trying to wake the child and “she was weird.”

“Greg advised EM had been fussy since she came to live with them again approximately one month ago, more so with Vanessa,” the complaint stated. “EM preferred his attention to Vanessa’s and their counselor stated that it was due to an attachment disorder.” Greg stated it was hurting Vanessa’s feelings and she had cried because she did not understand why EM was so fussy with her.

At a forensic interview several days later, the brother stated his mother was “bad to his sister. Mom beat her up. She slammed her on the wall. Then she died.”

Both parents told police the child fell off the bed a few days before she was found dead, the complaint stated, but a pathologist at the baby’s autopsy concluded she had “scattered bruising to her head and neck as well as a large subdural hemorrhage likely caused by trauma.”

A CYFD investigator told the investigating Albuquerque police detective that the 18-month-old had been removed from the parents’ care shortly after she was born on Feb. 1, 2024. The removal to state custody occurred because of “their inability to take her to follow-up medical appointments related to her premature birth.”

The child had been living with another family member until about a month ago, the criminal complaint states, “when the family began a home trial period to facilitate EM’s reintegration with the family.”

EM and 6-month-old JM had both been born drug-exposed, the complaint states.

A CYFD spokeswoman told the Journal on Thursday that two of the couple’s children were “previously in CYFD custody.”

On June 18, attorneys for the parents asked a judge to dismiss an abuse and neglect case “citing the parents’ compliance with their court-ordered reunification plan.”

All parties at the hearing, including a guardian ad litem attorney for the children, social workers with the state Office of Family Representation and Advocacy and the presiding judge “raised no objections to the dismissal motion,” wrote Jessica Preston, spokeswoman for CYFD, in an email. The dismissal order was signed by the judge 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 in an email.