Officer testifies he cursed at suspect in death of child

A detective working a case in which a hospitalized 14-month-old boy was clearly about to die became so emotional after several hours of questioning a suspect that he threatened him and cursed at him, the officer acknowledged Thursday at the trial of Christopher Garcia.

The officer said it was his first child homicide since joining the Special Victims Unit, and the death affected him enough that he got counseling afterward.

Garcia, 30, is charged with child abuse intentionally caused resulting in the death of Isaac Arevalos, who suffered brain hemorrhages from blunt force trauma to his head. Garcia and his wife, Lizy Portillo, were babysitting the boy for a friend of Portillo’s, the child’s mother, Carmina Vargas. Isaac often stayed there days at a time.

Garcia, Portillo and Vargas were all charged

with child abuse death.

Michael Carrasco, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office deputy, had been working on the case for 18 hours straight when he began the interrogation of Garcia. He had been questioning Garcia for over an hour and a half, and getting increasingly frustrated by what he perceived as untruthful responses, when he called Garcia “a (expletive) liar” and threatened to “beat the dog (expletive)” out of him, he said.

Another officer had questioned the child’s mother for hours and eventually learned that the child had not been with her when he was injured but was with Garcia and Portillo at another home in the South Valley. Garcia had called in the early morning and said the boy fell off a bed and he wanted to bring him back.

Carrasco told prosecutor Haley Murphy that there were various versions of what had happened and when the child had last been with the couple.

He said Garcia told him the baby had fallen off the bed, spilling a cup of soup and possibly hitting a side table in the fall and that he had picked him up and given him a bath. Carrasco said Garcia didn’t mention Isaac’s losing consciousness.

By then, Carrasco had seen pictures from a field investigator of the child’s injuries, including multiple cuts and bruises, and knew that “there was zero chance he would survive.”

Garcia never admitted harming Isaac, he said.

Carrasco admitted telling Garcia that he would never see his wife and kids again, telling Murphy that it was not appropriate behavior and that he eventually stopped the interview.

In cross-examination by Garcia’s lawyer Kari Morrissey, Carrasco agreed that threats or coercion could undermine an incriminating statement, and that he had used the F-word dozens of times in the interrogation.

He also told Morrissey he had at one point told Garcia to quit talking to his wife, who was in the interview room next door, through the wall. The sheriff’s office has three rooms where witnesses can be interviewed and video recorded, as required by state law.

The trial continues today before 2nd Judicial District Judge Cristina Jaramillo.