Carlos Tello and Justina Martínez end up behind bars for the death of their 9-month-old baby

• Parents Carlos Tello and Justina Martínez were arrested for the death of their son.
• Both gave a different version to the authorities, who ended up discovering the truth and arrested them.
• The evidence on the baby’s body was dramatic.

Parents Carlos Alejandro Tello (39) and Justina Eliza Martínez (36) were arrested in Laredo, Texas after authorities confirmed how their son Justin Alejandro Tello, just 9 months old, really died.

Both parents received warrants for their arrest on April 29 after being charged with three counts of bodily injury to the little boy, Laredo Morning Times reported on Wednesday. The newspaper also detailed that the police went to the Laredo Medical Center on April 18 after receiving notification that there was a little boy injured in strange circumstances.

Parents Carlos Tello and Justina Martínez were arrested

Carlos Tello said that he and his wife, Justina Martínez, had taken their son to the doctor in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, because he was constipated and had «a very swollen stomach,» detailed the arrest affidavit cited by the newspaper. The medical staff then prescribed suppositories and said, according to the parent, that the child «just had cramps.»

Carlos Tello explained that the boy stopped responding when they arrived from Nuevo Laredo and apparently had trouble breathing. The parents went to the fire station on Cielito Lindo Boulevard to seek help, and an ambulance transported the child to a health center. Later, the police spoke with her mother, who said that she took her son to the doctor in Nuevo Laredo around 1:00 in the afternoon because the child had been «very swollen.»

The brutal evidence on the baby’s body

«She also stated that the boy did not want to eat anything and that she tried to feed him Gerber (food), but the boy refused. Mrs. Martinez also reported that she tried to give the child rice water,» the affidavit mentioned. Police later learned that the boy had a distended stomach, bruises on the right side of his torso to his back, bruises on the right side of his forehead, an abrasion under his chin, and trauma to his anus, the statement said.

The medical staff at the health center in Laredo where the boy was taken were unable to determine what caused the injuries. CT scans of the body showed fractures of the 10th and 11th posterior ribs and a large volume of fluid in the boy’s abdomen that was causing the abdominal swelling, the Laredo Morning Times report said.

The version they gave to the police

When asked if Justin could have hurt himself in another way, Carlos Tello added that his son had fallen out of the crib three or four days earlier, but they did not seek medical attention because he stated that the child «was fine,» according to the affidavit. He also noted that the baby was not crying and did not appear to be injured. And when asked about the crib, Carlos Tello replied that they no longer had it in the residence since they had thrown it away because it was broken.

Justina Martínez corroborated Carlos Tello’s statements and, in addition, said that she was in a coma and suffered from COVID-19 last year, at approximately the same time that her son was born. In addition, she stated that she suffers from weakness and shortness of breath, the affidavit mentioned.

The parents denied physically assaulting Justin, but preliminary autopsy findings revealed the boy had a displaced femur fracture, two possible rib fractures, and injuries that caused feces to leak into his body and cause peritonitis. Police also learned that Justin’s stomach distention was caused by trauma.

During the investigation, the authorities obtained a report filed on November 24, alleging that Carlos Tello was hurting Justin because he did not want to have a baby and, in fact, was going to give him to his relatives so they can take care of him for a few days. Investigators also found that the father grabbed the baby by the arm and punched him 10 times in the stomach before throwing him into the crib, the Laredo Morning Times report said.

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