A couple in Oxnard, California, was arrested Friday after allegedly strangling the woman’s newborn baby boy to death.
Reports state that police responded to a call about an injury at St. John’s Medical Center at 7:53 a.m. Friday. The officers were reportedly told that the baby had “suspicious injuries” and was in serious condition.
Police said during the investigation, they found that the mother, Andrea Torralba, 20, and her boyfriend, David Villa, 21, had strangled the child until he was unconscious.
“Medical staff was notified that the infant was unresponsive and, despite the efforts of the medical team, the infant succumbed to his injuries,” a press release from the Oxnard Police Department stated.
Police Sgt. Brandon Ordelheide said the couple told detectives “they didn’t want the baby,” ABC 7 reported.
“By the looks of the nurses, they did everything they could to try and revive that kid. I can tell you this is probably one of the worst things these detectives can go through, is something like this, but we’re still trying to figure out what happened,” Ordelheide commented.
St. John’s Medical Center released a statement on Saturday reminding residents of California’s Safe Surrender Law.
The statement read:
While we deal with tragedies every day, the staff at St. John’s Regional Medical Center are devastated by the alleged incident. In the midst of this investigation, it is timely to remind our community of California’s Safe Surrender Law wherein: Newborn infants can be dropped off at any safe surrender site such as hospitals, fire stations and police stations, within 72 hours of birth, with no questions asked.
Both suspects were arrested for felony assault on a child by means of force resulting in the child’s death and are scheduled to appear in court Tuesday afternoon. Records from the Ventura County Sheriff state that the couple’s bail has been set at $5 million.