Alejandra Marin and Juan Sanchez Moreno (Riverside County Sheriff’s Office).
A couple in California is accused of abusing, torturing and murdering their adopted son, with the 10-year-old being rushed to a hospital “in medical distress” before dying several hours later, according to cops.
Alejandra Marin, 51, and Juan Sanchez Moreno, 59, have been arrested on felony murder and torture charges, including one count of willfully causing or permitting harm to a child, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. The couple was booked on Friday, Nov. 22, following an investigation by the department’s Central Homicide Unit and Special Victims Unit.
On Nov. 21, deputies responded to a call of a 10-year-old boy “in medical distress” at a home in the 13000 block of Malibu Court, Moreno Valley, per an RCSO press release. Authorities found the child and rushed him to a local hospital, where he was stabilized.
“Several hours later, the juvenile’s health declined, and he was pronounced deceased at the hospital,” the sheriff’s office said. “Based on the circumstances, the Riverside Sheriff’s Central Homicide Unit was requested to respond and assumed the investigation.”
The circumstances, according to cops, included visible signs of neglect and abuse documented by SVU and the sheriff office’s Central Homicide Unit. It’s unclear how the couple tortured the boy.
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“Through the joint investigation … the juvenile’s adopted parents, identified as 51-year-old Alejandra Marin and 59-year-old Juan Sanchez Moreno … were arrested for murder, torture, and child abuse,” the sheriff’s office said.
The couple was being held at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on Sunday without bail, according to jail records. Marin is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, while Moreno’s case records have not been made public yet.
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