Father Defends Girlfriend After Daughter’s Death

The father of a 3-year-old girl allegedly killed by his live-in girlfriend struggled Friday to deal with his grief while defending his lover and trying to find the money to bury his daughter.

For Jose Mejia, it all began around 4 p.m. Wednesday when his girlfriend, Genera Valle, reached him at the nearby marble factory where he works. “She said my daughter had fallen while she was eating,” Mejia said. “I dropped the phone and just flew home.”

By the time he arrived, Mejia said, his daughter’s small face was covered by an oxygen mask and she was being whisked away by paramedics to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

The child, Maria, died at 8 that night as doctors operated to repair the injuries to her head, said Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Guillermo Campos.

Valle, 33, was booked later that night on suspicion of murder. Police were alerted by doctors.

“My guess is that the injuries didn’t look right,” Campos said. “From where [the injury] was to how deep it was, the doctors probably said, ‘This is not from a fall.’ ”

Valle is being held in lieu of $1 million bail, authorities said.

At his small North Hollywood apartment Friday, a distraught Mejia insisted that his girlfriend is innocent, pointing to photos of the three of them on a recent outing.

“It can’t be,” Mejia said. “It’s not possible. She was so loving with my girl. There is no doubt in my mind she is innocent.”

The couple, who are both from El Salvador and speak very little English, have been together for two years. The child’s mother left a week after the girl was born, Mejia said, and he believes she still lives in El Salvador.

Grieving for his daughter, Mejia closed his eyes, dropped his head and caressed his face with a tiny shirt the size of his outstretched hands.

“Every day before I left for work, [Maria] would say goodbye with lots and lots of kisses in the morning,” he said.

Rows of photographs of his daughter are taped to the walls and heating vents, creating a makeshift shrine. A candle burns below the photos next to a bouquet of carnations stuffed in a drinking glass.

“[Maria] was his whole life,” said Jose’s sister, Nora Mejia, of Sherman Oaks. “He used to rush home to pick her up and go to the park. All the time, he was always with his little girl.”