Pomona Couple Arrested in Death of 5-Week-Old Son : Crime: Parents are held on suspicion of murder after their infant dies of an apparent beating. The pair’s other two children also show signs of abuse, police say.

A Pomona couple was arrested in connection with the death of their 5-week-old son, who apparently had been severely beaten, police said Tuesday.

Denise Michelle Bale, 21, and Daniel Lee Scott, 26, who have two other children, were arrested Monday morning on suspicion of felony child endangerment after Robert Scott was hospitalized with multiple bone fractures to the head and upper torso, Pomona Police Sgt. Michael Ervin said.

After the infant died Monday night at Loma Linda Hospital, the charges against Bale and Scott were upgraded to murder, Ervin said. Both were being held without bail, Scott at Pomona city jail and Bale at Sybil Brand Institute for Women.

Police said Robert was extremely undernourished. The couple’s daughters, ages 1 and 2, also showed evidence of abuse, police said. They were taken into the care of the county’s Child Protective Services agency.

Police said Bale apparently called the Los Angeles County Fire Department from a public phone near the apartment she shared with Scott and their daughters about 5:30 a.m. Monday requesting medical assistance for Robert.

When fire officials arrived at the couple’s one-bedroom apartment, they found Robert suffering from what appeared to be a severe beating and called police. Robert was taken to Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center and later was transferred to Loma Linda Hospital.

At the time of his arrest, Scott was on parole for receiving stolen property, police said.

The family had no history of physical child abuse and there was no case open, a spokesman for the Department of Children and Family Services said.

But a source close to the investigation who asked not to be identified said that in the past six months, the family had had two allegations involving neglect. One incident involved diaper rashes on the children and another involved the family living in the apartment without power.

Neighbors said they often heard the couple fighting and that the daughters often were dirty and ran around barefoot in cold weather.