Fernando Vega and Angelina Calderon are charged with injury to a child-serious bodily injury after their 1-month-old twins died on Oct. 4, 2023, of blunt force trauma at their home in Houston, Texas. (KHOU/YouTube)
A mother and father are behind bars in Texas after their one-month-old twins died last fall from blunt force trauma incidents.
Fernando Vega and Angelina Calderon, both 21, are charged with two counts each of injury to a child-serious bodily injury.
Vega called Houston police to his home on the city’s southeast side around 11 a.m. on Oct. 4, 2023, after he discovered the twins unresponsive, officers said. Paramedics arrived at the home and pronounced the twins dead.
Calderon allegedly told detectives she had last seen the babies shortly after midnight when she went to bed. Vega said he cared for the twins during the night and last saw them around 6 a.m., according to officers. Calderon said they were still sleeping when she woke up around 8 a.m. and Vega dropped her off at work around 10:30 a.m. The twins’ grandmother watched the babies during that time, according to documents. Vega allegedly returned around 11 a.m. and noticed the twins were unresponsive and called 911.
Initially, police found no serious traumatic injuries on the infants.
“This is a very, very tragic, heartbreaking scene,” Houston police Assistant Chief Patricia Cantu told reporters. “Obviously the family is devastated.”
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But an autopsy told a disturbing tale. Doctors found the infants were extremely malnourished and suffered traumatic injuries on three separate occasions, according to a probable cause arrest affidavit. Calderon told cops that despite the babies being born prematurely, she never took them to any check-up appointments with doctors, detectives wrote.
One infant had contusions on the forehead, torso, feet, and arms, along with fractures of the left femur and multiple ribs, the affidavit said. The other infant also had bruises to the forehead and arm, along with head, clavicle, and bilateral rib fractions, the autopsy determined. Those injuries were in various stages of healing, which suggested they happened during three separate incidents, authorities said.
On Thursday, the medical examiner determined both twins died from multiple blunt force injuries and the manner of death was homicide. Vega and Calderon intentionally inflicted the injuries and should have sought medical care, detectives wrote.
Cops took Vega and Calderon to the Harris County Jail where they are being held without bond.
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