Arrests Made In ‘Horrendous’ Sexual Assault/ Stabbing Of 1-Year-Old Texas Girl, Suspect Blamed Injuries On Dog
On Tuesday San Antonio officials in Bexar County held a press conference where they announced that two people had been arrested in a sexual assault case which involved a 1-year-old baby girl. Sheriff Javier Salazar said that the horrendous condition the toddler was in is close to the worse child assault case that many in the department had ever seen.
“I’ve got seasoned detectives and emergency room personnel that have all agreed that this is one of the worst cases they’ve ever seen, if not the worst case they’ve ever seen. It’s been described to me and… just imagining it is enough to chill any of us. Aside from being law officers, we’re also human beings and many of others are also fathers… it’s certainly not something you ever want to even imagine or see pictures of.”
WJLA reported that so far, no motive has been established for the sexual assault and stabbing of the toddler. the sexual assault of the baby girl.
Texas man jailed on a first-degree sexual assault charge after a female toddler was sexually assaulted and stabbed: https://t.co/ofRowVgc7O
— NBC DFW (@NBCDFW) January 4, 2017
The police initially became involved in the case on New Year’s Eve when deputies from the Bexar County Sheriff’s Department were called to a home on the far south side of the county. The officers were also accompanied by emergency medical personnel in response to a 9 a.m. 911 call that a young girl had been attacked and bitten by dogs. When the officials arrived at the home, they were told by a female relative and another man present that the little girl, who was not yet 2-years-old, had wandered out of the house during the night and had been attacked by dogs.
However, once the man, who was identified as the boyfriend of the relative, and the female were questioned by investigators at the scene, it became clear that the story they were telling was inconsistent with the evidence of sexual assault and the crime scene. Sheriff Salazar said that the toddler was found to have been suffering from several stab wounds to her upper body as well as to the “private areas of her body.”
The little girl was fighting for her life and was rushed to University Hospital with “extremely serious and life-threatening wounds consistent with a brutal sexual assault and multiple stab wounds.” On Tuesday it was reported that she was now in stable condition at the hospital. The authorities also stated that once the baby girl was recovered enough to be released, she will be taken into custody by Child Protective Services.
The medical staff from the hospital confirmed the initial suspicions of the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office investigators and reported that not only had the toddler been sexually assaulted but the stab wounds she had suffered to both the intimate areas of her body and her upper torso had been “non-accidental.” The medical personnel also confirmed that the wounds on the toddler were not from any dog attack.
According to a local NBC affiliate report on the incident workers from Animal Care Services (ACS) were also called in to pick up the dogs at the home and found that the dogs displayed no signs of aggressive behavior at all.
Man And Woman Arrested For Sexual Assault Of Toddler – https://t.co/BWngbL7DE1 pic.twitter.com/8dySiaxKGZ
— Kids Safety Network (@kids_safety_net) January 4, 2017
The investigation naturally returned to the female relative of the little girl and the boyfriend and they were brought into the jail and questioned further and then arrests were made. The boyfriend has been identified as 23-year-old Isaac Andrew Cardenas while the female was identified as 22-year-old Crystal Herrera. Cardenas was arrested and is being held in the Bexar County Jail and will face charges of super aggravated sexual assault of a child, which is a capital offense and carries a minimum sentence of 20 years. Cardenas’ bond was set at $300,000. No online jail record was found for Herrera, but she was brought into the station on Tuesday and will be charged with injury to a child by omission.
Child Services is working with officials from the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office to determine if the toddler has any prior abuse history. It is suspected that the wounds the 1-year-old toddler received, both mentally and physically, will stay with her for life.
[Featured Image by Bexar County Sheriff’s Office]
