Relatives Say Toddler Was Hospitalized Earlier

Relatives of the 2-year-old girl who authorities say was beaten to death last weekend said Thursday the toddler was hospitalized with broken ribs and taken from her teenage parents two years ago, only to be given back to them after the girl’s grandmother died.

But the relatives and the girl’s father denied that Joselyn Hernandez suffered any abuse at the hands of her parents--Rogelio Hernandez and Gabrielo Nieto.

“It’s bad enough that he lost his daughter,” said Joaquin Hernandez, Rogelio’s brother. “My little brother did not beat his daughter, and neither did her mom.”

Joselyn died Saturday from what the medical examiner’s office said were blows to the abdomen. Thursday afternoon, relatives selected a plot at Santa Clara Cemetery for her burial today.

Joaquin Hernandez, standing in the family’s produce store on Oxnard Boulevard, recalled that his niece had been taken to the hospital as an infant.

“It was broken ribs, but I don’t know how that happened,” he said.

Another uncle said Joselyn was taken away from her teenage parents after she was hospitalized. The baby was later returned to them. “It had been two years,” said Leo Nieto, the brother of Joselyn’s mother. “So they [social service officials] figured they were more mature.”

Rogelio Hernandez, 18, declined to discuss the death Thursday. Instead, he referred questions to a local defense attorney, who also refused to discuss the case.

Nonetheless, county social services workers have taken the couple’s other child--a 9-month-old boy who officials feared might be harmed, Joaquin Hernandez said. “He is in protective services,” the uncle said.

Six Oxnard police investigators has been assigned to the case, the first local battered-child death that officials say they can remember in years.

Inspectors spent part of Thursday re-interviewing Hernandez and Neito, the girl’s 18-year-old mother. But police have said little about the investigation.

Senior Officer Tom Chronister said the investigation is being treated as a homicide, but added that no suspects have been identified.

“We haven’t centered our investigation on any one suspect,” Chronister said. “The investigation is still very broad, and it’s focused on anyone who had intimate contact with this child.”

Chronister said the investigators would look beyond immediate family members for evidence of child abuse. “She had a short life and basically what we’re trying to do is talk to anyone and everyone that had contact with this girl,” he said.

Nelson Perez, whose family hosted the Saturday birthday party at which Joselyn died, said he was surprised to learn the girl had died from abdominal injuries caused by “battered child syndrome”--as the coroner’s office said.

“I never saw either of [the parents] lay a hand on her,” he said. “I don’t understand it.”

Perez said both Rogelio Hernandez and Nieto met with county psychologists, who will help determine whether the couple are allowed to continue caring for Joselyn’s brother. James E. Isom, head of the county’s Public Social Services Agency, said he could not confirm that the couple’s younger child is in protective custody or whether Joselyn’s parents have had any contact with his department.

Jeff McDonald is a correspondent and Fred Alvarez is a Times staff writer. Correspondent Scott Hadly contributed to this story.