A woman who authorities say beat her young daughter to death while on a prohibited, unsupervised visit with the child was ordered Tuesday to stand trial on a charge of first-degree murder.
Zoey Espinoza, 2 1/2, was taken to Denver Health Medical Center on July 2 with a temperature of 105 and bruises from head to foot, according to testimony during the preliminary hearing of Zoey’s mother, Tiffany Moreno. Zoey died at the hospital.
Moreno, 20, told four stories about what had happened to the child, police Detective Joel Humphrey testified Tuesday.
During the final version, Humphrey said, Moreno confessed that she was irritated with the child for rolling the windows of a car up and down and “just lost it.”
Moreno said that as the 35-pound child played with the windows in the moving car, she first shook her, then spanked her and finally snapped and took the palm of her hand and hit the little girl on the left side of the head. That caused her head to slam into the door.
Humphrey testified that Zoey’s paternal grandmother had custody and Moreno was allowed two visits a week with supervision.
District Attorney spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough said investigators are looking into whether more charges are warranted.
Moreno is charged with first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death.
Defense attorney Tom Carberry challenged the prosecution and autopsy conclusions that the child died from being hit in the head. Carberry said there was no bleeding behind Zoey’s eyes, which he said was usual with brain injuries. He also said the child had been left in a car on a hot July day.
Humphrey testified that a child can die from brain injuries without eye bleeding but acknowledged that July 2 was a hot day.
Moreno said that before Zoey was taken to the hospital by her boyfriend, Joseph Trujillo, 25, the child was left in the car. Zoey had begun foaming at the mouth and was taken to the hospital after she became unresponsive in the car.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-820-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
