“It sounds awful:” Exclusive 911 call details moments before alleged child abuse
On Saturday morning, a Las Cruces woman made an urgent 911 call anxiously describing what she overheard at an apartment complex in central Las Cruces.
” I got home and could just hear the baby crying, ” the woman told the operator.
In the four minute and forty-two second call, the woman desperately pleaded for police to respond to the situation at an apartment complex off of Chaparro Street and Montana Avenue in central Las Cruces.
” I can hear this mother beating her kid, ” the caller said. ” I hear her smacking him hard, one right after the other. It’s been about five minutes. I can see her hand just going up through the window and going down and smacking the kid. ”
Over the weekend, police arrested 30-year-old Desirae Nichole Vargas, and her friend, 18-year-old Anika Samario in connection with the crime.
According to documents, Vargas is the step-mother of the young girl and her biological father is incarcerated.
” I just want to make sure somebody gets over here, because it sounds awful, ” the caller said.
According to court documents, investigators said they found drug paraphernalia in the apartment, to include pipes and tin foil. Police said the two-year-old girl had bruises from her head to toe and bite marks on her buttocks.
Samario told investigators that the alleged ‘beating’ started just after midnight.
” Nobody in the family new that this was going on, ” said Lillian Carbajal , who told ABC-7 on Monday that she is the toddler’s grandmother. ” It hurts. It hurts knowing that somebody can put hands on a child and hurt them like that. ”