State officials will examine social-service involvement in the home of a 4-year-old girl preceding her death in La Junta, reversing an earlier determination that it wasn’t needed.
The decision was prompted by a Denver Post article today that said Rosalia Quintana died after social-service workers investigated abuse and neglect allegations in her home.
“Looking back on it again, we’ve decided to review it,” Colorado Department of Human Services spokeswoman Liz McDonough said this afternoon.
Rosalia died Oct. 31 in her La Junta home in southeastern Colorado after at least a half-dozen abuse and neglect complaints were made to the Otero County Department of Human Services, family members and officials say.
Rosalia’s father, Salvador Quintana, 23, and his girlfriend, Carmen Marquez, have been charged with child abuse causing death, said Otero County District Attorney Marty Barta.
On Tuesday, Karen Beye, Colorado Department of Human Services executive director, announced an emergency probe into a dozen child-abuse and neglect deaths.
But Rosalia Quintana’s name was not on the list, which includes children who died in 2007 after child-care workers visited their homes the past five years.
Although Rosalia’s case did not strictly meet the state’s criteria, McDonough said, state officials decided to do a fatality review because they believe they can learn from the case.
Rosalia was taken out of the home of her biological mother, Angelica Garcia, by Otero County in July and placed in Salvador Quintana’s home, Garcia said. She said she was in a custody battle with her ex-husband, who falsely claimed she was not feeding her daughter.
At the time, there was an active warrant for Salvador Quintana’s arrest out of Seward County, Kan., for violation of his probation on a May 2005 aggravated-assault conviction. He had pleaded guilty to the lesser assault charge after initially being charged with attempted murder for stabbing Manuel Morales during a fight in December 2004, Seward County prosecutor Don Scott said.
In the months before Rosalia’s death, Garcia said she and at least four other people reported to social services concerns that the girl was abused, not properly dressed or fed and was seen crying.
A prosecutor in the case said during a court hearing that at the time of her death, Rosalia had pools of blood in her skull, bed sores on her spine and back, and open sores on her feet and left knee, according to a report by The Pueblo Chieftain. The prosecutor also indicated she had been in an all-terrain-vehicle accident, the paper said.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206 or kmitchell@denverpost.com
