OMI: Boy died with meth in his system
Toxicology report says liver tissue tested positive
SANTA FE -- A 13-year-old boy who investigators say was severely tortured by household members before he was killed in November had methamphetamine in his system when he died, according to a toxicology report released Friday.
Jeremiah Valencia’s remains were found buried in a plastic storage bin off N.M. 503 in late January. Jeremiah’s mother, 36-year-old Tracy Ann Pena, and her former boyfriend’s son, Jordan Nunez, 20, face charges of child abuse resulting in death, tampering with evidence and conspiracy.
Thomas Ferguson, Pena’s ex-boyfriend, was also charged in Jeremiah’s death but killed himself in the Santa Fe County jail in April.
Ferguson, 42 when he died, was a longtime meth user and dealer, according to recent court testimony by Amanda Nunez, Ferguson’s ex-wife and Jordan Nunez’s biological mother.
Nunez is believed to have killed Jeremiah in late November by repeatedly flipping over a dog crate with Jeremiah locked inside, on a day when Pena was being held in the Santa Fe County jail on an unrelated warrant.
The toxicology report released Friday by the state Office of the Medical Investigator says Jeremiah’s liver tissue tested positive for meth. There are two forms of meth — one that is used in non-prescription inhalers for decongestion and
the other that is typically abused for to its stimulatory effects — but doctors couldn’t determine which kind the boy had in his system.
“In this case, the level of methamphetamine determined has not been differentiated according to its isomeric forms,” the report states.
Jeremiah also had ethanol — evidence of alcohol — in his system. University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center spokeswoman Alex Sanchez said that a doctor who worked on the report said she believed the ethanol was produced from the body decomposing. It’s also hard to tell what kind of affect the meth found in Jeremiah’s liver may have had on him, Sanchez added.
Court documents say Ferguson tortured Jeremiah with a homemade spear, a five-pound hammer and other implements over time. Jeremiah’s sister, who is about a year younger than he is, said in court recently that Ferguson forced her to poke Jeremiah with the spear. Ferguson is also said to have locked Jeremiah in the dog cage for hours without food and water and forced him to wear a diaper.
It was Jeremiah’s sister who, in court, has described
Nunez flipping the dog cage over several times while Jeremiah was locked inside on the day the boy died.
After Jeremiah’s death, Ferguson allegedly forced Nunez and Pena to help get rid of the body. Santa Fe District Attorney Marco Serna recently confirmed that a plea deal was in the works for Pena. He said Friday that his office is considering additional charges against both Pena and Nunez.