Citing Injuries, Coroner Rules Death of O.C. Baby a Homicide

Finding signs of starvation and repeated injury, coroner officials said Wednesday that the death of a baby girl in Anaheim five months ago was a homicide.

Paramedics found the body of year-old Samantha Rose Gutierrez on March 26 at her family’s home, which had been visited in the months before by police, social workers and counselors tipped off to possible abuse.

Supervising Deputy Coroner Rod Thomas said investigators based their findings on an autopsy as well as information from police and witnesses.

The post-mortem concluded that Samantha died of ketoacidosis, an imbalance of acids or ketones in the blood caused by starvation and maternal neglect. Medical examiners also found bruises on the child’s scalp, fluid on the brain caused by swelling, and repeated fractures of the girl’s right elbow. The findings confirmed the suspicions of officials at Eli Home, a private nonprofit child welfare agency in Anaheim that had contacted police and county social workers about possible abuse of Samantha.

Eli Home, which was tipped off by a housemate of the child’s family, first notified the Social Services Agency in January. The matter also came to the attention of Anaheim police officials, who found no evidence of abuse during a visit to the house Jan. 17.

Eli Home counselors said they visited Samantha a few days later and observed a bruise and a scratch under her eye and other bruises on her left arm.

They said they placed a second call to the Social Services Agency, when officials purportedly told them the case was under investigation.

“We believed that serious abuse was going on. Our suspicions were absolutely correct,” said Lorri Galloway, executive director of Eli Home.

Homicide investigators have received the coroner’s findings and will resume their investigation, said Anaheim Sgt. Mike Hidalgo. No arrests have been made, and police would not say if any family members are suspects. Police said most of the work on the case has been completed, such as the questioning of witnesses and the parents.

Detectives “want to do some more interviews and then present a case to the district attorney’s office,” Hidalgo said.

Anaheim police made one visit to the girl’s home in January to look into Eli Home’s initial concerns. Two officers checked on the family’s four children, Hidalgo said, but found no obvious problems. The Social Service Agency is reviewing its procedures to determine if anything should have been done differently. A report could be sent to the presiding judge of Orange County Juvenile Court within 90 days.

Galloway said she and other Eli Home officials have met with Michael Riley, head of the agency’s Children and Family Services Department. He declined to discuss specifics of the case, citing confidentiality laws.

But Riley said the social services department has no documentation confirming that Eli Home contacted the agency a second time in the months before Samantha’s death.

When a child abuse tip is received, the Social Service Agency assigns it to an emergency response worker who does a risk and safety assessment. If there is a risk of immediate harm, the agency can move for protective custody of the child. Otherwise, Riley said, social workers can offer the family programs and voluntary counseling.

The first indications that Samantha was being abused came from Dulce Soriano, 27, a housemate of the girl’s family. Soriano was attending an Eli Home parenting class when she appealed to the agency for help.

After the girl’s death, Soriano said she was constantly concerned about Samantha’s welfare and that social workers had appeared at the house at least twice, including once when the girl had a cast on her right arm.

Vanessa Delgado, 21, who spent two weeks living in the same duplex as the Gutierrez family, said she saw Samantha twice--once with a black eye and the other on the morning paramedics removed her body.

Samantha’s parents moved out of the Anaheim duplex soon after their daughter’s death. They could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Times staff writers Milton Carrero Galarza and Daniel Yi contributed to this report.