Infant dies; babysitter, 21, arrested

Affidavit: 8-month-old girl dead upon arrival at hospital

BENTONVILLE — A Rogers babysitter was arrested Thursday in connection with the death of a 8-monthold girl in her care.

Melissa Garcia-Rivera, 21, of 3012

S. 28th Place

No. 6 was being held in

Benton County Jail on Friday in connection with manslaughter.

The infant was dead when she was brought to Mercy Medical Center on Tuesday, according to a probable cause affidavit. Larry Taylor, a Rogers Police Department detective, was told by medical staff the girl’s body had no obvious signs of injuries and the cause of death was unknown, according to the affidavit.

Marco Antonio Garcia, who is engaged to GarciaRivera, brought the girl to the hospital. He told police Garcia-Rivera babysits six children, including the 8-month-old, during the day.

Garcia said Garcia-Rivera woke him shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday and told him the girl wasn’t breathing. Garcia said he attempted CPR on the child but couldn’t get her to breathe. Garcia said Garcia-Rivera was so panicked she couldn’t call 911, according to the affidavit.

Police interviewed Garcia-Rivera, who said she was frustrated with the child but didn’t intentionally hurt her. Taylor asked Garcia-Rivera to show him what happened to the child using a reenactment doll, according to the affidavit.

Garcia-Rivera said she placed the baby on her back in a toddler bed at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday. The baby had a fleece type blanket on top of her. Garcia-Rivera said the baby was fussy and didn’t want to go to sleep. She turned the girl over on her stomach and the baby tried to push herself up with her arms. Garcia said she placed one pillow on the fleece blanket to prevent the child from pushing up, according to the affidavit.

The child pushed herself up again so Garcia-Rivera said she put a second pillow on the child’s back. Garcia-Rivera said she left the child in that position

for an hour and when she went back to check the baby wasn’t breathing, according to the affidavit.

Garcia-Rivera later called police and detectives went to her home for another interview. Garcia-Rivera said she found the baby unresponsive and didn’t put any pillows on her, according to the affidavit.

Garcia-Rivera used the doll to show what happened, but police believed she changed her story. Garcia-Rivera laid the doll on its left side and then covered it with a blanket and left only the right ear and cheek section exposed, according to the affidavit. She then placed a pillow on top of the doll and said she was trying to position the pillow so the child would think Garcia-Rivera was laying beside her, according to court documents.

Garcia-Rivera denied using a second pillow, but she later told detectives she did place a second pillow against the first one, according to court documents.

Police weighed the blanket and pillows. The blanket used to cover the child weighed 2.49 pounds; the first pillow weighed 2.43 pounds; and the second one weighed 2.74 pounds. Police determined 7.66 pounds of weight was on top of the child.

Garcia-Rivera told police she didn’t intentionally kill the child. She pulled the cover over the child’s head, but could see her right ear and cheek, according to the affidavit. Garcia-Rivera said she was only trying to keep the area dark so the girl would go to sleep, according to the affidavit.

Adam Craig, a medical examiner, informed police Thursday the autopsy on the girl was inconclusive pending toxicology results. Craig said he didn’t find any type of trauma to the child or find any signs of defect or disease that would have led to her death, according to the affidavit.

Garcia-Rivera used the doll to show what happened, but police believed she changed her story.