The parents of a 6-week-old boy found dead by police in February are being charged with first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death, Colorado Springs police said.
Police arrested the child’s parents, John Ostranger, 21, and Donica Mirabal, 23, on Monday after obtaining warrants charging them in the killing, police said. The El Paso County Coroner’s Office stated that the infant died as a result of prolonged, intentional neglect and lack of care on the part of Mirabel and Ostranger.
The charges come after a six-month police investigation into the death of Zayden Ostranger.
On Feb. 28, police and firefighters were dispatched to an apartment in the 1500 block of South Eighth Street to investigate a report of an unresponsive child, police said. Firefighters found the infant dead in his bassinet.
Fire Department paramedic Ben Shunko, who responded to the 911 call, said Zayden looked like “he was out of an Auschwitz movie,” according to an arrest affidavit. Shunko described the infant as “skin and bones.”
Read the.
