JOHNSTOWN, Colo.—Two teens have been charged in the death of a 7-year-old who died after being kicked, karate chopped on her shoulders, and wrestled with while the teens imitated the “Mortal Kombat” video game, investigators said.
Lamar Roberts, 17, of Westminster, and Heather Trujillo, 16, of Johnstown, were charged as adults on a count of felony child abuse causing death, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The teens were baby-sitting Trujillo’s half-sister, Zoe Garcia, on Dec. 6 while the sisters’ mother, Dana Trujillo, 30, was at work. A phone number for the Trujillos could not be found.
A number for Roberts’ mother, Linda Clark, could not be found. Clark was with Roberts as he was interviewed by Weld County sheriff’s investigators.
Sheriff’s spokeswoman Margie Martinez did not immediately know if the teens had attorneys.
Court documents, which identify the teens, say they were supposedly playing “Mortal Kombat.”
Zoe lost consciousness after being hit, kicked, and body-slammed to the floor, an affidavit said. She also stopped breathing.
Trujillo and Roberts tried reviving Zoe under running water and attempted CPR before calling the sisters’ mother and then 911, according to affidavits.
Roberts told police he was downstairs playing video games while the sisters wrestled upstairs, but a witness quoted in the affidavit said Roberts told her he had kicked the girl.
The witness told police that Roberts said Zoe had told them to stop wrestling. According to the affidavit, when the witness asked why they didn’t stop, he responded, “I don’t know, I was drunk.”
Zoe died at a hospital. An autopsy showed she had a broken right wrist, more than 20 bruises, swelling in the brain, bleeding in her neck muscles and bleeding under the spine, the affidavits said.
If convicted as charged, the teens could be sentenced to 48 years in prison. Both were being held at the Weld County jail.
