DENVER — The body of a 5-year-old Texas boy found in Grand County near the town of Fraser in Colorado Wednesday has led to the arrest of the boy’s mother and her boyfriend.
Nickolle Christina Aguilar, 25, and Daniel Garcia, 26, both of San Antonio, Texas, were arrested in Miami last week and are both facing a felony charge of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury-death.
The boy, identified as Domenic Patrick Aguilar-Acevedo, died in a San Antonio hotel room on or around July 25, according to an arrest warrant obtained by Denver7 Sunday. Aguilar told her mother that Domenic became sick, threw up and then died, according to the documents.
The warrant states the day after the boy’s death, Aguilar and Garcia allegedly traveled to Colorado with the boy’s body and camped near Rocky Mountain National Park, where they told investigators they buried Domenic’s body in a remote location near the campsite.
After burying Domenic, the couple left Colorado and traveled to Mexico and then to Costa Rica, the arrest warrant reads.
Concerned about the welfare of her grandson, Aguilar’s mother tracked her daughter down to Costa Rica and confronted her about the whereabouts of Dominic, police said in the warrant. FBI agents questioned the suspect’s mother in Costa Rica, and she provided them details as to what happened to her grandson.
On Wednesday, San Antonio police traveled to Colorado to aid in the search of Domenic. A couple of hours after arriving at the campsite near Fraser, police found the boy’s body down a deep ravine. The Larimer County coroner performed an autopsy and found evidence of trauma, according to the arrest warrant. The final results of the autopsy are still pending.
During an interview with San Antonio police on Thursday, Aguilar told police that her son had suffered extensive physical abuse by the hand of her boyfriend, Garcia, the documents read. She said the night of July 24, inside the San Antonio hotel room, Garcia allegedly struck Domenic with such force, that the 5-year-old was thrown against a wall and struck the floor. The child was in pain and vomiting, the documents read.
According to the arrest warrant, when asked why Aguilar did not intervene or seek medical help for her child, she said she was “too eager to be in a relationship with a man,” and she said they were both worried about losing custody of their other children.
Both suspects will likely be extradited from Miami to San Antonio to face formal charges.