A woman suspected of leaving her 9-month-old son in a bathtub while going to a nearby drugstore has been charged with felony child abuse.
Krystleann Martinez told police she found the child facedown in the bathtub. He was “barely alive” when paramedics arrived at the home of a neighbor where Martinez had gone for help April 18, according to court documents.
Martinez, 20, denied leaving the child, Zachary Martinez, alone in the residence in the 1200 block of West 46th Avenue.
She said she had placed Zachary in an infant bathtub, which was placed inside a full-size bathtub in an upstairs bathroom.
She told police that she had been gone “only four seconds – just enough time to run down (stairs) and get a towel,” according to Larry Adkisson, a senior investigator for the Denver district attorney’s office.
“Ms. Martinez said she never left the residence during the time she was giving Zachary the bath,” Adkisson said.
But Denver prosecutors filed one felony child-abuse charge and three misdemeanor child- abuse charges against Martinez after neighbors told police that Martinez had left the home.
The neighbors said Martinez first went to a drugstore and then spent time in front of the home with one of the toddler’s two older siblings, Adkisson said.
One neighbor, Auda Diaz, said she saw Martinez run to the store, return and then linger outside her apartment. She was talking on her cellphone as she walked with one of her older children, Diaz said.
Later, Martinez showed up at Diaz’s residence, holding the nearly dead child. She was holding the baby while simultaneously cradling the cellphone to her ear and talking to someone on the other end, according to court documents.
Diaz said Martinez told the other person: “My baby, my baby, come over.”
Adkisson said that the 911 call was made from the Diaz home. When asked why she didn’t use the cellphone rather than going to the Diaz home, Martinez replied that the phone was in her pocket and she didn’t think to use it.
Denver police Officer Kirk Miller said that when he reached the bathtub in Martinez’s apartment, he found it plugged and there was a towel on the rack behind the bathroom door.
Martinez is in custody, with bail set at $50,000 and will be arraigned in Denver District Court on Aug. 30, according to Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the Denver district attorney’s office.
Staff writer Howard Pankratz can be reached at 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to an editing error, it incorrectly reported that district attorney spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough said suspect Krystleann Martinez was out on bail. Martinez is in custody at the Denver County Jail with bail set at $50,000.
