Salt Lake Co. couple accused of head-slamming 9-year-old son, locking him in dark closet

SALT LAKE COUNTY, Utah — A Salt Lake County couple was arrested on warrants after the Salt Lake District Attorney’s office filed child abuse charges.

Kyra Pacheco, 31, and Sawyer Hutto, 25, were charged after alleged abuse of her 9-year-old son, according to a statement filed by District Attorney Sim Gill.

Documents indicate that as a punishment, the boy was kept in a closet without light or access to a bathroom. The child also had his head slammed against a wall on multiple occasions, the documents said.

Pacheco was charged with one count of child abuse. Hutto was charged with four counts of child abuse and one count of child kidnapping. The District Attorney’s office also filed an alternative charge of aggravated child kidnapping for threatening the boy with a knife.

The charges follow an incident on Nov. 5 of last year in which the boy was admitted to Primary Children’s Hospital with injuries.

Pacheco reportedly said her son was unable to move his arms and legs, had low energy, had been vomiting and had double vision, according to court documents.

Court documents say Pacheco told doctors her son had suffered since he did a flip off a rock two weeks earlier. Physicians told law enforcement officers that the injuries did not appear to have occurred at the same time, and some were too recent to support Pacheco’s account.

“When they took him in, that is when they realized he had some sort of subdural hematoma and other internal injuries, and through that process they were able to discover the series of injuries and the different stages of healing, and there were no accidental explanations for that,” the court document says.

The 9-year-old told officials that on multiple occasions, Hutto had slammed the boy’s head against the wall, hard enough to dent the wall, documents said. The child also said Hutto had stood on his body, applying his full weight and bouncing, in order to cause pain.

“Mr. Hutto held a knife to his throat and threatened him,” the documents said.

The boy said his mother witnessed the abuse, but did not stop it because she was scared of Hutto.

Hutto and Pacheco were both booked into the Salt Lake County Jail. All of Pacheco’s children were taken by the Division of Child and Family Services and will be offered therapy.