BETSABETH SANDOVAL - 4 yo/ Convicted: Mother; Maciel Sandoval - Houston TX

Mom found guilty of murder in death of 4-year-old daughter

by khou.com staff
Posted on September 14, 2012 at 5:58 PM

HOUSTON – A Houston jury found a mother guilty of murder and injury to a child by omission in the death of her 4-year-old daughter.

Betsabeth Sandoval was found unresponsive on June 3 in the northeast Houston apartment where she lived with her mom Maciel Sandoval, her mom’s roommate and the roommate’s 14-year-old son.

Maciel Sandoval, a 27-year-old citizen of Nicaragua, told investigators she’d gone to work that day and left Betsabeth with her roommate, Judith Herrera-Garcia.

Herrera-Garcia told investigators that around noon, she’d walked into the room and found Betsabeth unresponsive on the floor. She said she called police and started CPR, to no avail.

Betsabeth was pronounced dead on arrival at Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital.

Herrera-Garcia, 36, was also charged in connection with the child’s death.

Investigators said Betsabeth had multiple bruises, cuts and fractures when she died, and both women were responsible for her health and well-being.

The punishment phase of the trial begins Monday.

http://www.khou.com/news/crime/Mom-found-guilty-of-murder-in-death-of-4-year-old-daughter--169841596.html

Mother gets life in prison for beating death of 4-year-old daughter

Monday, September 17, 2012
Updated: Monday, September 17, 2012 8:48pm

For two long years, Betsabeth "Abby" Sandoval's little body was beaten and burned, day after day. The child was struck, kicked and abused in every unimaginable way, ignored by the one person who should have protected the girl - her mother.

Eventually Abby's 4-year-old body surrendered to the brutal pain. A coroner examined her and made a shocking conclusion: Abby was so horribly beaten her muscles and tissues were "liquefied."

"When did she finally give up hope?" prosecutor Connie Spence said Monday during the murder trial for Abby's mother, Maciel Sandoval. "The mercy that Abby finally received was that she died. The mercy that she received was that she lost her life."

Sandoval, 28, was convicted last week of felony murder and child abuse in Abby's death. On Monday, prosecutors asked jurors to sentence the woman to life in prison. They pleaded for someone to finally speak up for Abby.

"Twelve strangers are going to have to stand up for this child because her own mother, the one person who should have, didn't," prosecutor Tammy Thomas told the jury. "We're talking about a baby. How can it be anything other than life in prison?"

'Blinded by love?'

Sandoval's attorney argued it was her lover, Elida "Judith" Herrera-Garcia, 36, who beat the child to death.

"I think the one you wanted to punish was Judith," said attorney James Dyer. "She's the one who hurt the child. Was Maciel blinded by love? Yes."

Dyer asked jurors for mercy by sentencing Sandoval to five years in prison, the minimum, for her role in the death.

"Has she been punished already? Yes," Dyer said. "She lost her child."

Abby had been a bright-eyed and happy 2-year-old when the woman she would call "Mommy Judith" began dating Sandoval and moved in.

Two years later, a coroner testified, an autopsy showed Abby had a broken arm, healing fractures in her shoulder blades, hands burned by scalding water and scars from stitches on her scalp and chin. The girl was malnourished and fighting a staph infection.

Thomas said the girl had been "beaten to a pulp," leaving her muscles and tissues liquefied like an orange that has been squeezed repeatedly until it loses any constancy under the peel.

Abby died in the family's northeast Houston apartment on June 3, 2011.

Mom said 'she fell'

Investigators said Herrera-Garcia was baby-sitting the child and called Sandoval to come home because the girl was unresponsive. Sandoval called 911 and tried to perform CPR, but Abby was dead.

Speaking to police, Sandoval blamed the girl for being clumsy, for falling down and for being difficult.

When she gave her statement to police, she used the phrase, "she fell" more than 40 times, prosecutors said.

"It was the end of a two-year hell," Thomas said. "I don't think an adult could have lived through it, much less a 4-year-old."

Father in court

Prosecutors said Sandoval hid Abby from her father, Horacio Ramos, by moving then refusing to take his calls, but he was in court Monday to see her sentenced.

"I don't wish bad upon anyone, but for what she did to my daughter, I hope she spends the rest of her life in prison," Ramos said. "So she will know how my daughter was feeling when she was suffering."

After deliberating about 90 minutes, jurors sentenced Sandoval to life in prison for injury to a child by omission and felony murder, which is causing a death while committing another felony. Herrera-Garcia is awaiting trial on the same charges.

The jurors did not comment after the verdict but did speak to Spence.

"They were really shocked at the extent of the injuries," the prosecutor said. "They were really affected."

Sandoval did not appear to react when state District Judge Denise Bradley read the sentence or while being led away in leg irons. She will be eligible for parole in 30 years.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Mother-gets-life-in-prison-for-beating-death-of-3871628.php

I'm glad that partial justice has been served and the monster mother will spend life in prison. Hope the actual murderer gets even more. These two women were nothing but bully baby killers.

I tried to find a photo of this sweet little girl. There are several in the video clip at this link:

http://www.khou.com/news/Mom-babysitter-charged-in-connection-with-death-of-4-year-old-Houston-girl-123777999.html

Another travesty...apparently CPS was involved before this baby was murdered and did nothing. Here is an article from 2011. Be sure to click on the link as there are 3 videos that have pictures of this beautiful little girl and her nasty murderers.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8191320

CPS scrutinized in girl's death

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Demond Fernandez
More: Bio, Facebook, Twitter, News Team

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Lingering questions remain in the recent death of a four-year-old girl. Betsabeth Sandoval had injuries all over her body when she died. Her mother and a woman who lived with them are both charged in the case. It turns out Child Protective Services did know this family.

CPS workers tell me they checked on the child about three months ago and found nothing. But for two days now the agency has given us a tough time trying to get to the bottom line of how thorough that investigation really was.

"A warrant for your arrest, ma'am, has been issued for the felony offense of causing serious bodily injury to a child," a judge explained.

Maciel Sandoval appeared before a judge overnight on charges linked to the suspicious death of her four-year-old daughter Betsabeth, a child whose body police allege was found covered with bruises and fractured bones back on June 3.

Steven Lightfoot with Justice for Children said, "My question is to what extent did CPS investigate?"

Now child advocates with Justice for Children are among many across this community questioning whether Child Protective Services dropped the ball in investigating allegations of abuse at the little girl's home. CPS told Eyewitness News it sent workers to check on the family back in March, but found no signs of abuse.

"Experience has shown us that the typical CPS investigator, although a very well intentioned person who truly wants to do right by the child, is not trained in the investigative techniques that a law enforcement officer is trained in," Lightfoot said.

In the warrant against Sandoval, and her adult roommate who's also charged with injury to a child, a doctor alleges little Betsabeth suffered abuse over some time, including bruises from blunt force trauma and fractures at different stages of healing.

After repeated requests, CPS staff has failed to answer our questions about its investigation and follow-up procedures in cases like this. Workers at Justice for Children tell us they are not surprised.

Lightfoot said, "The system is failing our children. And the only thing we can do to fix it, is to change the way the system operates."

Autopsy results for the little girl are still pending. Her mother remains in jail on a $60,000 bond and immigration hold.

(Copyright ©2012 KTRK-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8191320


NOTE THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE THE TRIAL BUT I WANTED TO SHOW THAT CPS WAS INVOLVED.