Ajo toddler VictoriaLynn Heredia-Manuel died as she’d been left to live — in squalor and without love.
The 17-month-old girl spent her final weeks in a trailer filled with rotting garbage and drug paraphernalia, newly released documents show.
She ate half of a marijuana joint and tried to swallow the foil her mother’s boyfriend — who was her unofficial caregiver between the mother’s arrest in April and VictoriaLynn’s death in June — used to cook heroin. Neighbors later reported pulling garbage from her small hands and broken glass from her mouth. They noticed the girl’s horrible diaper rashes and knew she was not being fed regularly.
They heard her screaming, and some stopped by to check on her. One visitor was her aunt, who later told authorities she was turned away and told she could see VictoriaLynn only if she returned with heroin.
Yet no one called for help on the child’s behalf — not even a Pima County Sheriff’s deputy who left her with neighbors hours before she died.
9 rounds of adrenaline
Paramedics started trying to save VictoriaLynn around 12:30 a.m. June 10. They worked for 90 minutes and gave her nine rounds of adrenaline, sheriff’s records obtained by the Arizona Daily Star show.
A deputy had left her with neighbors after her mother’s boyfriend, Julian Moore, was arrested on an outstanding warrant. Those neighbors, who could not be reached for comment and have not been charged in the case, told authorities VictoriaLynn was crying uncontrollably and “seemed off balance.”
The crying was so loud and prolonged that people stopped over to see what was wrong. One neighbor saw the child being carried outside, screaming and tucked under the neighbor’s arm.
The neighbors, who had recently lived with Moore and knew VictoriaLynn, said they could not get her to settle down until she finally seemed to fall asleep around midnight. When they checked on her a short time later, they said she had vomited and was not breathing.
When paramedics arrived, VictoriaLynn was on the floor. Her eyes were open, but she was unconscious and vomit was running from her mouth.
Her autopsy report showed that she had minor injuries to her head, face and torso, but none serious enough to kill her. No cause of death has been determined.
Pima County Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Eric Peters declined to comment on the case, but said that, in infants and toddlers, “unspecified and sometimes undetectable” natural diseases combined with subtle trauma, malnutrition or neglect all can play a role in a child’s death but might not be determinable by autopsy.
No reason to suspect danger
Arizona law gives law enforcement officers the discretion to take a child into temporary custody and requires them to report any child suspected to be in danger of abuse or neglect.
In VictoriaLynn’s case, the deputy who arrested Moore on a shoplifting warrant suggested she be left with neighbors, sheriff’s records show.
The deputy asked the couple if they would be willing to watch the child, “most likely until morning when Moore got out of jail,” and they agreed, said Deputy Ryan Inglett, a sheriff’s department spokesman.
When a parent or guardian is arrested, “the decision regarding the custody of the arrestee’s child or children may be decided upon by the parent or guardian when there is no report or suspicion of criminal conduct, child abuse or neglect, or if the deputy has no reason to suspect or believe that the child is in danger,” Inglett said.
Moore, however, was not VictoriaLynn’s parent or legal guardian.
During a search of the neighbors’ home hours after the little girl died, deputies found a plastic bag of meth inside a DVD case in the bathroom.
Child would "scream bloody murder"
Moore was charged with child abuse within days of VictoriaLynn’s death. He told investigators VictoriaLynn often seemed to have an upset stomach and that she would “scream bloody murder.”
In an interview with pretrial services the day before, Moore said he had been unemployed for the past two years and had used marijuana, meth and heroin for the past year, according to the report provided to the court.
During the interview, Moore indicated that he had no interest in receiving drug treatment, and said he had secured a job doing day labor at the Tucson Indian Center, the document says.
The Arizona Department of Child Protective Services would not provide any information on the case because it has not been determined if VictoriaLynn died of abuse or neglect.
Moore was booked into jail on a $3,000 bond, but was released with no bond Aug. 4, at the recommendation of Pima County Superior Court pretrial services, court records show.
Deputy County Attorney Lauren Pylipow’s objected to his release based on the nature of the crime, the age of the victim and Moore’s drug history.
Despite the state’s concerns, pretrial services said nothing in Moore’s criminal history suggested he was likely to reoffend, the document says. That history is unclear because the related document filed with the report is labeled “Confidential history/information imaged under seal.”
Moore’s conditions of release require that he live in a pretrial services-approved residence in Tucson, not go to Ajo, have no contact with children, and receive drug monitoring and treatment.
He is to appear in Pima County Superior Court before Judge Jane Eikleberry on Sept. 20.
Mother’s history of drug use, arrests
VictoriaLynn’s mother, Starlynn Manuel, was arrested in April and accused of failing to follow the conditions of her release from federal custody on drug charges, said Chris DeRosa, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service.
In March 2007, Starlynn was stopped for a traffic violation on the Tohono O’odham reservation and an officer noticed “the strong odor of marijuana emitting from the vehicle,” according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court.
Manuel told the officer there was marijuana in the car that she was going to be paid $3,000 to help transport it, the complaint says.
Nearly 300 pounds of marijuana was pulled from the vehicle, leading to Manuel’s arrest for felony possession of marijuana with attempt to distribute, federal court records show.
She was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison followed by three years of probation, and was released in May 2012.
In March 2013, after she quit her job without telling her probation officer, missed four required drug tests, failed to attend counseling and used meth on multiple occasions, a warrant was issued for her arrest, according to the state’s petition for the warrant.
She was sentenced to four months in prison for the violation, followed by 32 months of probation, federal court records show.
In June 2014, Manuel’s mother filed a motion in Pima County Superior Court seeking custody of Manuel’s 7-year-old daughter.
The motion alleged that Manuel was living with a sex offender and may have requested food stamps on behalf of the child. Two months later, Manuel’s mother withdrew the request. DCS would not comment on the older girl’s whereabouts.
Manuel was arrested in April and, on July 25, was sentenced to six to seven months in prison.
