UPDATE: the Mohave County Attorney's Office will not seek the death penalty for alleged baby-rapers. Click here for details.
A Bullhead City couple was arrested yesterday after their 1-month-old baby died as a result of what police are calling a "brutal sexual assault."
Bullhead City police spokeswoman Emily Montague tells New Times police believe the baby was "raped" by his parents, 19-year-old Staci Lynn Barbosa and 23-year-old Jonathan Edward Vandergriff.
Montague -- for good reason -- wouldn't go into detail about the sexual attack but says authorities believe both Barbosa and Vandergriff were involved in raping their one-month-old son.
According to police, at 11:20 a.m. yesterday, police were called to Western Arizona Regional Medical Center's Emergency Room where a baby was "fighting for his life."
Police say they saw bruises and sores all over the baby's body and his eyes were red and swollen shut.
Doctors then told police the baby had several broken ribs, a broken femur, was malnourished, dehydrated, and showed signs of sexual abuse and shaken baby syndrome.
The baby was airlifted to Sunrise Hospital in Las Vegas -- the closest hospital with a trauma center, according to Montague -- and Barbosa, who brought the one-month-old to the hospital, was immediately taken into custody.
Doctors were not able to save the baby and he died early this morning.
Vandergriff turned himself into authorities yesterday and police served a search warrant at the house where the couple had been living, which turned up marijuana and other items of "evidentiary value."
Vandergriff and Barbosa were arrested for molestation of a child, child abuse, aggravated assault, and sexual conduct with a minor.
Police say more charges are on the horizon for the two, including murder. Both parents were booked into the Mohave County Jail in Kingman where Vandergriff is being held on a $500,000 bond and Barbosa's bail was set at $250,000.
The Bullhead City couple accused of "brutally" sexually assaulting and murdering their six-week-old baby pleaded not guilty to murder, and several other charges related to the boy's death.
Staci Lynn Barbosa, 19, and Jonathan Edward Vandergriff, 23, appeared in Mohave County Superior Court July 1, 2010, where they each pleaded not guilty to murder, child abuse by domestic violence, sexual assault of a minor under the age of 15, and sexual conduct with a minor under the age of 15.
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According to police, at 11:20 a.m. on June 15, police were called to Western Arizona Regional Medical Center's Emergency Room where a baby was "fighting for his life."
Police say they saw bruises and sores all over the baby's body and his eyes were red and swollen shut.
Vandergriff turned himself into authorities the same day and police served a search warrant at the house where the couple had been living, which turned up marijuana
and other items of "evidentiary value."
The couple's next court date is scheduled for July 23, 2010. If convicted, the two defendants each face the death penalty.
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