El Paso mother charged with daughter’s murder
EL PASO, Texas -- Colorado police accuse an El Paso, Texas, woman and her boyfriend of murdering the woman's 5-year-old daughter at their home in Colorado Springs.
For months, ABC-7 has been following the investigation into the death of Emily Rae Canales, 5. Colorado Springs police would not confirm Canales' cause of death and whether they were investigating it as a murder. That changed today, when Colorado Springs police announced the arrests of Canales' mother Brianne Escamilla, 27, and Matthew Urias, 26.
Their arrests come nearly six months after Canales died on January 13.
On that day, Colorado Springs Police Dept. officials stated in a news release, fire crews called police officers for back-up as they attempted to perform life-saving measures on the little girl. They didn't state what led to the initial call for help.
Canales ended up dying at a Colorado hospital later that day.
An autopsy report on Canales finalized on June 14 -- five months after her death -- ruled the child's death a homicide with multiple blunt force injuries.
The girl's father Manuel Canales reached out to ABC-7 in March. He had started an online crowd-sourcing effort to pay to bring his daughter's body back home. He told ABC-7 in an interview July 6 he had been taking legal action to bring his daughter back from Colorado to live with him in El Paso before her death.
"We were just trying to get everything right in December," Canales said. "But in January they tell me it was an accident," Canales said. He covered his face with his hands, his voice cracking. "They said that it was an accident, that something had happened. Nobody would tell me what was going on."
Two weeks after the autopsy was conducted, CSPD detectives executed warrants for Escamilla and Urias. Urias was arrested June 29. The U.S. Marshall's Service worked with police in Littleton, CO to arrest Escamilla July 5, according to CSPD.
Both are charged with first-degree murder.
Canales said he hopes the two get what they deserve.
"I still can't wrap my head around that I'll never see my baby again," Canales said. He rubbed his eyes. "I still can't figure that, I still don't understand that."
Anyone with information that could help the investigation is asked to call the Colorado Springs Police Department at (719) 444-7000. Those who want to remain anonymous can call the Colorado Springs Crime Stoppers Tip Line at (719) 634-STOP (7867) or 1-800-222-8477.
