Couple Whose Pet Rat Killed Son Had Taken Drugs, Detective Says

A homeless couple, who say they slept unaware in their car as their starving pet rat killed their son, later tested positive for drugs, a police detective testified Tuesday as Kathyleen and Steven Giguere were bound over for trial in the infant’s death.

Both parents have denied using methamphetamine, but blood samples taken from them about 18 hours after the Aug. 26 death of Steven Giguere Jr. reveal traces of the illegal stimulant, Detective Larry E. Flynn of the Anaheim Police Department said. Steven Giguere, the infant’s father, also admitted using marijuana the day before the boy died, Flynn said.

Prosecutors said they do not know whether the parents were affected by the drugs at the time of the 4-month-old child’s death, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jim Tanizaki said.

Tanizaki said he could not speculate on how much methamphetamine the couple allegedly ingested, or when. But he said Flynn’s testimony shows that both lied to authorities about their drug use.

A defense attorney suggested that the couple is being punished for an accidental death. Attorney Matthew Vallance said he questions whether the parents have been treated unfairly because they are homeless.

“I don’t see middle-class families being prosecuted when their kids fall into a Jacuzzi” and die, Vallance said outside of court.

The Gigueres told police they were sleeping in their car on Aug. 26 in an Anaheim parking lot in the 800 block of South West Street. When Kathyleen Giguere awoke about 3 a.m., she said she discovered that the child was not breathing properly.

But an autopsy on the dead infant revealed air in his lungs and stomach, suggesting that the child, who had been bitten 110 times, was “crying loudly at the time of death,” Flynn testified. Inflammation surrounding the bite marks indicate that the attack lasted at least two hours, he said.

A necropsy revealed that the rat was “ravenous. . . . It would eat anything it could get its mouth on,” Flynn testified.

The infant also had not eaten in the 24 hours before his death, Flynn said the autopsy also revealed.

After Flynn’s often-graphic testimony about the death, Orange County Municipal Judge Phillip R. McGraw ordered both parents to stand trial on two felony counts each of child endangerment and one felony count each of involuntary manslaughter. They each face the possibility of more than seven years in prison if convicted.

Another homeless couple who saw the Gigueres the night before the death said Kathyleen Giguere ignored her son as he cried, Flynn testified.

The couple’s 3-year-old daughter, Karissa, was also in the car but was not injured. The girl now lives with Steven Giguere’s father and stepmother, but social service officials hope to reunite the Gigueres and their daughter, defense attorneys said.

The Gigueres claim they began living in their car after Steven Giguere, 27, lost his two jobs last year. He has prior convictions for drunk driving and possession of marijuana. Kathyleen Giguere, 30, was once arrested on a drug charge but never prosecuted.