Woman Held in Death of 14-Month-Old Boy

Police have arrested a 20-year-old Oxnard woman and want to question her live-in boyfriend in connection with the suspicious death of a 14-month-old boy Sunday night, authorities said Wednesday.

Teresa Lucia Rodriguez, 20, was arrested Tuesday afternoon and booked on suspicion of child endangerment resulting in death after the boy died at St. John’s Regional Medical Center.

Rodriguez had taken the baby to the Oxnard hospital, where he died a short time later. Soon after, hospital officials called police because they suspected that child abuse contributed to the boy’s death.

“She was taking care of the child, and the child died while under her care, and the death was suspicious,” Oxnard Police Sgt. Jim Seitz said. “Neglect and abuse were factors in the death.”

Rodriguez was being held in lieu of $500,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned today in Ventura County Superior Court.

Hours after Oxnard detectives began their investigation into the infant’s death, Rodriguez, who was nine months pregnant, was rushed to Ventura County Medical Center, where she gave birth to a boy. The newborn was immediately placed in the county’s child protective services unit, Seitz said.

Rodriguez, described by investigators as a close friend of the dead child’s mother, had been caring for the infant for the last two months. Wednesday afternoon, detectives had located the child’s father in Oxnard and were expected to contact the mother in Los Angeles County late Wednesday night.

Seitz said investigators are searching for Rodriguez’s live-in boyfriend so they can question him about Rodriguez’s care of the child before his death. Police say the man, who they refused to identify, had lived with Rodriguez, the infant and the couple’s toddler daughter in a small Oxnard home.

Rodriguez was most recently unemployed, and her boyfriend earned money doing odd jobs, Seitz said.

The boyfriend and the couple’s daughter were at the Oxnard home until Tuesday but have since left and are probably still in Ventura County, Seitz said. Investigators do not believe the daughter is in any danger but said it’s imperative they question her father, Seitz said.

“We definitely need to talk to him,” he said. “There may be more parties involved in this.”

Authorities said he was not a suspect in the infant’s death. Seitz said officers expect to find him or hear from him soon, but he would not elaborate.

Details surrounding the child’s death have been delayed because the coroner’s office has yet to determine how the boy died. An autopsy was performed Monday and Tuesday, but the cause of death had not been established, said Craig Stevens, a senior deputy coroner.

Stevens said coroner’s officials were awaiting the results of several microscopic and toxicological tests before they release a complete autopsy report.