Coroner Gives List of Broken Bones on Body of Girl, 2

A day after a teenage boy testified in a murder hearing that his father systematically beat a younger brother and sister until they died, a coroner Tuesday described the effects of the beatings on the little girl’s body.

In the months before her death, 2-year-old Guadalupe Esquivel suffered two broken legs, a broken arm and a broken collar bone, Dr. James Ribe, a county medical examiner, testified at a preliminary hearing in Van Nuys Municipal Court.

The girl’s father, Marcos Esquivel, is charged with abusing and murdering her and her 5-year-old brother, Ernesto.

Petra Ricardo, the children’s mother and Esquivel’s wife, is charged with child endangerment and being an accessory to the slayings. Her sister, Maria Ricardo--who for years lived with Esquivel and bore him six children--is also charged with child endangerment and accessory to murder.

Ribe said an autopsy on Guadalupe showed she was the victim of battered child syndrome and chronic neglect.

The fractured bones in her body were in various stages of healing, and the breaks could have been caused weeks or months before her death, he said.

The toddler was also probably malnourished, he said. While the development of her feet and teeth were consistent with that of a normal 2-year-old, the size of her bones and even her head were significantly smaller than normal, according to Ribe.

The girl was killed when her head was pounded by or against a hard object so violently that the bones in the back of her skull separated, he said. The tissues around her neck, shoulders and rib cage were discolored, probably from being bruised shortly before she died, he said.

But Ribe also said other factors could have contributed to her death, but because the girl’s body was badly decomposed he was unable to determine them. The girl had been buried for about six months in Angeles National Forest before authorities learned of her death.

Adding to the difficulty, it appeared sulfuric acid had been poured on her, hastening decomposition of her clothing and body, he said.

“The bones were the texture of wet cardboard. You could bend them easily with your fingers and they wouldn’t break,” Ribe testified.

Deputy Dist. Atty. David Mintz said the girl’s father poured the acid on her before shoveling dirt on her body.

“He was trying to prevent her from being identified if she were found,” Mintz said, adding that when the body was exhumed in March “I don’t think you could have made an ID by facial features.”

The girl’s body might never have been found.

Esquivel and Maria Ricardo were arrested in March after two Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies on routine patrol stopped to check out what appeared to be an abandoned car.

Sheriff’s Det. Christine Carns said the deputies found Esquivel, four of his children and Maria Ricardo hiding in the bushes. The woman was sitting on a fresh pile of dirt. When a deputy disturbed the dirt to see what had been buried, he unearthed a child’s arm, Carns said.

Upon further investigation, the officers found the limb belonged to Ernesto, whom the family was burying in a shallow grave.

It was more than two months later when Marcos and Jose Antonio Esquivel, the boy’s 13-year-old twin brothers, told authorities that Guadalupe also had been beaten to death by their father and was buried in the woods, with a blanket and plastic garbage bag as her coffin, Carns said.

Jose Antonio testified Monday that the majority of the children lived with Esquivel and Maria Ricardo in a one-room apartment in Pacoima. She and many of the children sold corn from push carts until 10 p.m. The children were screamed at and beaten by their father nearly every day, the boy testified.

He said his mother lived with two of his brothers in a garage apartment in Arleta and also sold corn on the street.

Defense attorneys Alan Kessler and Philip Nameth, who represent the Ricardo sisters, say their clients did not stop the abuse because they, like the children, were afraid of Esquivel.

“There’s no doubt she was a victim of his brutality,” Nameth said. “Neither Petra nor my client would stand up to that man.”

Kessler said the women were totally dependent on Esquivel. He controlled the money, bringing them food and provisions.

“It’s a question of whether in that situation she could have or should have protected those children,” Nameth said.