Couple charged in death of infant in Chimayó

A Rio Arriba County couple are accused of child abuse in the death last week of their 1-month-old son.

Authorities said in court documents the baby’s father confessed to putting a pillow over the boy’s face but said he didn’t mean to smother him.

According to arrest warrant affidavits for Steven Serrano, 22, and Athena Savell, 19, Rio Arriba County sheriff ’s deputies were called to a home in Chimayó around 3 p.m. Oct. 14 because the baby had stopped breathing. The deputies performed CPR for five minutes before paramedics arrived and took the baby to Presbyterian Española Hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 3:30 p.m., the affidavits say.

The state Office of the Medical Investigator found bruising on the infant’s face and neck and an irregularity on the crown of his head.

Serrano and Savell initially gave deputies conflicting accounts of the events leading to their son’s death.

Serrano said he had changed the infant’s diaper around 2:40 p.m., fell asleep and then found the baby unresponsive 10 minutes later, the affidavits say. Savell, however, said she and the baby’s father were doing chores around the house before they discovered the baby wasn’t breathing.

But Serrano later confessed to placing a pillow over his infant son’s face, the affidavits say.

“I didn’t mean for that to happen, bro,” Serrano told deputies, according to the affidavits. “It’s not a heavy pillow at all.”

Savell’s father, Michael Lawhead, showed deputies past text messages from Savell saying Serrano had put his hand over the infant’s mouth and thrown the baby on the bed, the affidavits say. In an interview with deputies, Savell walked back her comments in the text messages.

Lawhead also told deputies he heard that his daughter had slapped the baby previously. Serrano told deputies Savell had smacked the baby once, according to the affidavits.

Court document indicate authorities believe Serrano and Savell were homeless and staying with a friend at the time of the baby’s death.