WARNING: This story contains graphic descriptions of child harm and may be upsetting to some readers.
An Apache County judge ruled Thursday there’s enough evidence to take a case to trial against the guardians of 10-year-old Rebekah Baptiste, who died in July after doctors said she’d been “tortured.”
Baptiste’s father, Richard Baptiste, and his girlfriend, Anicia Woods, appeared at a hearing this week where 95 pieces of evidence in the case were introduced. They included graphic medical reports showing wounds consistent with sexual abuse, malnutrition and dehydration among other things detailed by Deputy Sheriff Kole Soderquist.
“She had bruises from head to toe. There were injuries to her vaginal and anus area. She had damaged, missing toenails and burn marks on her back that appeared to be consistent with cigarette burns,” Soderquist said of Baptiste’s body.
He added that the burn marks were on her lower back, “right on her spine.”
Baptiste was found unresponsive on the side of the road on July 27 and died at Phoenix Children’s Hospital a few days later. Her autopsy hasn’t been submitted yet, so the exact cause of death is still undetermined.
New details of the case discussed in the hearing included information on Baptiste’s previous attempts to escape her home, both when the family lived in Phoenix and after they moved to Apache County.
In Apache County, Baptiste ran away on July 9 and July 12.
“RB had jumped out of a two-story window in an apartment complex. She had ran to at least one homeless person she saw, asking for help, then ran to a QT,” Soderquist told the court.
When Baptiste’s family lived in Apache County, they shared a yurt without electricity or running water.
Soderquist said it was in disarray and there was trash and animal feces on the floor. As he understood the sleeping arrangement, Rebekah’s two younger brothers shared an air mattress and she slept on a pad on the floor. Their father and his girlfriend shared a queen mattress.
One of Baptiste’s brothers told law enforcement his sister had to sleep on the floor because she was “in trouble,” Soderquist said.
Soderquist said in a bathroom in a building nearby the yurt, he found blood and a hairbrush full of “large clumps of blonde hair.” Baptiste was blonde and missing clumps of hair.
Rebekah Baptiste and brothers told their teachers that she was forced to run laps frequently and do planks by their father and stepmother. One of her brothers was also missing a toenail and said he was being beaten.
Richard Baptiste and Woods listened to Soderquist’s testimony on Thursday, but did not react apart from taking occasional notes.
DCS backlash
The gruesome case has sparked a wave of outrage against the Arizona Department of Child Safety, which received multiple reports that Baptiste was being abused but didn’t take her away from her father and his girlfriend.
It’s also caused an internal investigation within the agency.
Baptiste’s brothers also showed signs of abuse and said it was a form of punishment, according to school teachers in Phoenix. They’re currently in the custody of the state.
Arraignment is set for Sept. 8.
Sen. Carine Werner (R-Scottsdale) held the first of a series of stakeholder meetings on Wednesday aimed at protecting kids in DCS custody. Her efforts are partially a response to the Baptiste case.
“When you have calls coming in from multiple sources, and calls coming in on siblings, that has to be shown to the person that is taking the call, because I think that would have changed the outcome, I hope that would have changed the outcome. … Someone made the decision to put her back there that probably shouldn’t have,” Werner said.
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