WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, Jan. 30. 2018 (Gephardt Daily) — The 22-year-old mother of a toddler who died of physical abuse while in the care of the woman’s 17-year-old boyfriend has been charged with child abuse after she told police she witnessed earlier abuse of her children by the teen, and did not take action to stop that injury.
Gena Nicole Sanchez, mother of 21-month-old victim Jaycieion Sanchez and his two older siblings — ages 2 and 5 — has been charged by the state of Utah with two counts of child abuse — inflicting serious physical injury intentionally, a second-degree felony.
Isaiah Weaver — who is 17 but has been charged as an adult — faces first-degree felony murder charges in the Jan. 16 death of Jaycieion, whom he was babysitting that day. Weaver also is charged with two counts child abuse.
Weaver and Sanchez had been in a relationship for about eight months, according to a probable cause statement, and Weaver had been living with Sanchez for about a month and caring for her children when she was at work. On weekdays, he dropped the 5-year-old girl at school, then returned to the apartment with Jaycieion and his 2-year-old brother.
The statement says that officers were called to the Sanchez apartment at about 12:15 p.m. that day regarding a toddler in “full arrest.”
Jaycieion, referred to in court papers as J.S., was transported to Primary Children’s Hospital, where a Dr. Robinson pronounced him dead at 1:19 p.m.
“Dr. Robinson noted that it was likely that J.S. had been deceased for some time before emergency personnel had arrived,” the statement says.
A first responder to the apartment, near 4600 South and 2900 West, said he arrived to find Jaycieion on his back on the bathroom floor, his body cold and covered with bruises, with visible trauma to his head.
Jaycieion also had bruises on his back consistent with being hit by a hard, thin object. Fresh blood droplets were located on the walls, pieces of furniture, and in the bedroom Weaver and Sanchez shared.
Jaycieion’s siblings told a detective that Weaver recently had disciplined Jaycieion and another sibling by hitting them with a clothing hanger. One of the children told the detective Weaver used a lighter to heat the hanger first.
A child abuse specialist at Primary Children’s Hospital examined the 2-year-old, who had patterned bruises on his buttocks and upper thighs, and burns with a similar pattern that were partially healed. The doctor found the marks consistent with intentional trauma rather than an accident.
Preliminary results of an autopsy indicate Jaycieion’s cause of death is blunt force injury, and his manner of death is homicide. Weaver later admitted he had hit Jaycieion’s head on the ceiling and floor multiple times.
Charging Sanchez
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said he filed charges against Sanchez because she was aware of abuse and did not take steps to stop it.
Sanchez, when interviewed by investigators, told them she had seen Weaver spank Jaycieion on occasion, and once had witnessed the teen kick the toddler in the back. She also had observed marks made by a hanger, she said.
“Sanchez said she noticed Weaver seems jealous of Sanchez’s relationship with her son, J.S.,” a probable cause statement says. “Weaver would tell Sanchez that she babies J.S.”
“Sanchez said she was present on January 15, 2018, when Weaver was melting a hanger with a lighter to burn off the sharp edges, but denied that she was present when Weaver was hitting the child with a hanger,” the statement says.
“Weaver reported to detectives that Gena Sanchez was present for one of the hanger spankings.”
Sanchez also told police she had seen marks on her middle child’s chest, and had seen Weaver hit that boy in the mouth once, causing his lip to be puffy.”
Sanchez told investigators she saw stripe marks on her two younger children’s buttocks on Jan. 16, and said “she had a weird feeling about going to work on Jan. 16, 2018, but she went to work because they needed the money.”
CEASE AND DESIST ALL NEWS ON MY DAUGHTER