Grand Terrace Mentioned in the News

Mom's boyfriend beat girl found in trash

By Ken Ritter

Las Vegas - After weeks of searching, police identified the body of a three-year-old girl who was found dead in a trash bin, and said she died when her mother's boyfriend beat her after he gambled away money that had been saved for a trip.

Crystal Figueroa's body was found on January 12 behind a Las Vegas apartment complex. But police struggled to identify her, and distributed a composite photo of a girl with brown eyes on mobile billboards and fliers in Nevada, California and Mexico.

The girl's mother, Gladys Perez, and the mother's boyfriend, Marc Anthony Colon, were in custody after their arrests on Thursday in California and Minnesota.

'Make sure the people who are responsible for her death come to justice'
"The best thing we can do for her now is make sure the people who are responsible for her death come to justice," said Las Vegas police Captain James Dillon.

Police said Perez and her two daughters joined Colon and his two daughters and drove from Tulare County to Las Vegas on January 10, booked a week at a low-budget downtown motel and began looking for work.

The next day, police said in the arrest warrant, Colon "went gambling and lost most of their money."

During an argument at the motel, Colon allegedly struck Perez and her youngest daughter, who had bruises on her face, stomach, chest, back and buttocks. Crystal became sick the next morning, vomiting and going into spasms, according to a statement Perez gave police. She died as the two adults drove around looking for a hospital, according to Perez's statement.

Perez, 24, was held at a women's jail in Visalia, California. Colon, 28, of Grand Terrace, California, was being held at a county lockup in St Paul, Minnesota, pending extradition to San Bernardino, California, on a parole violation charge.

Dillon said prosecutors in Las Vegas would seek to extradite the couple, who each face charges of murder by child abuse and child neglect.

Authorities at both jails said Perez and Colon could not be reached for comment, and there was no record that they had retained lawyers.

The police captain said the crucial break in the case came late Wednesday, after Duane Cornett, a sheriff's detective in Tulare County, California, connected a February 19 missing person report from the girl's grandmother, Lila Perez, with the missing girl in Las Vegas.

Lila Perez, in Strathmore, California, recognized photos and told Cornett she bought the white fleece jacket decorated with fuzzy pink hearts that the girl was wearing when her body was found.

"A lot of people were praying for this child - that justice would be done and her soul could rest in peace," said Josie Villarreal, 57, a Las Vegas hospital worker who stopped Friday at a memorial of flowers, signs, votive candles and Teddy bears where the girl was found. "Our prayers were answered." - Sapa-AP

Published on the Web by IOL on 2006-02-25 08:57:00