A Tucson toddler who died in December suffered a head injury and had marijuana in her system — a finding that differs from her father’s claims that night of a near drowning, according to newly released police records.
When police responded to the 911 call on Dec. 10 shortly before midnight, they found Warren Gastelum standing next to his car with two children inside and a strong odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle. When officers went inside the home, they found Gastelum’s 4-year-old son sleeping on the floor and again smelled marijuana, mixed with the stench of dirty diapers, according to a Tucson Police Department investigative report.
Gastelum, 27, said he was home alone with his four children when he put his daughter, 2-year-old Kamia Baptisto, in the bathtub before discovering her minutes later submerged up to her cheeks in water.
A captain with the Tucson Fire Department told police that Gastelum gave 911 the wrong apartment address and when they located the right unit, they found Gastelum standing over the girl and talking on his phone, the report said.
At that time, he wasn’t performing CPR on the child, but he told police he had done so until the paramedics arrived.
He yelled at paramedics while they tried to work on Kamia, then he tried to leave the scene with the other children. Firefighters parked a fire truck behind his car to keep him from leaving, the report says.
Doctors at Banner-University Medical Center were able to restart Kamia’s heart, but told detectives that she had suffered “non-accidental trauma” injuries, according to the police report.
Further tests revealed she had a depressed skull fracture, intracranial bleeding and was brain-dead, the report said. She had bruises on her forehead and one side of her body, and drug tests revealed there was marijuana in her system.
Kamia never regained consciousness and died a week later.
Charged with murder
Gastelum was arrested Dec. 12 on charges of child abuse, but a first-degree murder charge was added Dec. 20, as Kamia’s death was found to be caused by abusive head trauma, according to the indictment.
He’s still in the Pima County jail on a $100,000 bond.
While police searched the one-bedroom apartment Gastelum shared with his girlfriend and their four children, he told officers he had a medical marijuana card. Receipts from marijuana dispensaries were found in the trash and police found drug paraphernalia in his car. The bathroom where paramedics found Kamia had the scent of burnt marijuana, the report said.
The only piece of furniture was an inflatable mattress and officers found a reddish orange stain near the bedroom door that appeared to be vomit.
Gastelum’s speech was slurred and his eyes bloodshot when he spoke to police, telling them he had given all the kids “nighttime” medicine because they had a cough.
The interviewing officer noted that while he was in Gastelum’s home, he never heard them cough, the report said.
When police spoke to Kamia’s mother at the hospital, she told them all four kids had visited her at work before the incident and she had been trying to contact Gastelum to pick her up. When he finally answered the phone, he only told her something had happened then abruptly hung up. It wasn’t until she returned home that she learned what had happened to Kamia.
Gastelum pleaded not-guilty to all charges and has a case management hearing in Pima County Superior Court on March 27.
The Arizona Department of Child Safety had no prior reports on Gastelum or Kamia’s mother, according to a Jan. 25 case report.
