Man gets 25 years for child’s death
14-month-old covered in bruises when aid sought
Second Judicial District Judge Cindy Leos sentenced Jorge Ortega to 25 years in prison and five years of probation Friday for the death of 14-month-old Jayden Dayea last year.
The judge said she disagreed with the defense portrayal of the death as the result of an “accident” or “lapse of judgment,” the District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
Ortega previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, abandonment of a child and child abuse.
When paramedics responded to a rescue call in Northeast Albuquerque on Feb. 29, 2016, they found the child covered in bruises and a crowd of neighbors trying to help his mother revive him, according to court documents. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene.
Detectives subsequently arrested Ortega, the boyfriend of the toddler’s mother, at the scene and charged him with child abuse resulting in death.
A web page related to the child’s burial said Jayden was the youngest of three children. “He was a year old baby full of life and a very happy baby,” the page read. “Jayden was loved by everyone that knew him.”
Jayden’s mother, Jessica Dayea, told police she left her son alone that day with Ortega when she went to work at 6:30 a.m., according to a criminal complaint. She said Jayden had no marks or bruises on him that morning.
Around 1:30 p.m., Ortega called and told Dayea there was “something up” with her son, according to the complaint.
Dayea told detectives she found Jayden unresponsive and carried him outside, crying for help. Neighbors and paramedics jumped in, but the child could not be revived.
Investigators at the time said Jayden had blood in his mouth and several large bruises on his forehead, behind his ears and beginning to form on his stomach, and Ortega had blood on his chest, according to the complaint.
Police were unable to interview Ortega right away because he appeared to be intoxicated.