Alberto Rios Had A Barbecue
Update 8/22/08 - Alberto Rios has plead guilty to second-degree manslaughter in a plea deal that should get him about two years for the death of his son, Diego Rios-Santana. Sentencing is scheduled for October 3. Read the original charging documents.
Seattle, WA.-While this case has more questions than answers, two facts are alarmingly clear: Diego Rios, a 7-month old baby, is dead from smoke inhalation and burns over 100% of his body after ending up in an open fire pit. And Diego’s father, 38 year old Alberto Rios, is being held in King County Jail on $1M bond, for investigation of first-degree manslaughter.
Early Sunday morning, June 22nd, 911 dispatchers received a call about a baby that had been bitten by a dog, a second call came in reporting that a baby had been burned. When officers arrived at the Rios family home, they saw Alberto Rios holding a badly burned baby. Not only was the baby burned, he had a hole in his head.
This is how Alberto Rios describes the events leading up to the officer’s arrival:
There had been a party at the home the evening before and Alberto Rios admitted to drinking 3-6 beers. He also claimed to have been tired from a long day at work. After everyone had left the party, Rios went into the home. His wife said she thought the baby might be getting sick, so Rios suggested that Diego sleep outside with him. Not the first thing I would suggest for a sick baby, but…to each his own. Rios’ 4 year old daughter wanted to stay outside with her father as well and was allowed to do so.
Rios and the children went to sleep on a metal bench a few feet away from an open fire pit. Rios had the baby on his chest and his daughter by his side. When Rios woke up, both of his children were gone. He got up off the bench, went into the house and asked his wife if she knew where the baby was. When they returned outside, Rios found the baby in the fire pit. He tells officers that ‘he grabbed the baby out of the pit and scraped cinders off of his back.’ His wife ran to a neighbors house for help. When she returned, Rios was laying on the ground cradling the baby. Neighbors heard screaming and raced over to help, but it was already too late for little Diego.
The King County medical examiner’s office stated on Wednesday that the baby was alive when it entered the fire pit. The death has been ruled a homicide. So far, there has been no explanation for the hole in his head.
Police are still interviewing friends, family and neighbors but most seem to think this is a tragic accident. The prosecutor’s office has not yet decided whether or not any charges will be filed. If so, they will be filed within the next couple of days. A social worker has been in contact with Diego’s mother. Though grief stricken and angry, she has been cooperative with authorities and has agreed to a safety plan to keep the 4 year old safe.
The problem I have with that is that the baby was found face down. If he was crawling and fell head first into the pit, his butt most likely would have gone over as his head went down and he would have been on his back. And, I’m not sure a baby would get that close to a fire anyway. it’s not like going up to a hot oven where it’s not really hot until you get there and touch it. You can feel the heat from a fire from several feet away. I would think that the baby would at least feel uncomfortable and crawl the other way.
I can totally see dad being passed out drunk and flinging the baby into the fire though. I hope that’s what it was and not intentionally putting that baby in the fire!
my daughter is 7 months and I can tell you as a between her, my son, and a full time 50 work week I have spent a few exhausting nights on a lazyboy with the baby. and I did wake up once only to find her at my feet asleep. and another time when I put her to bed with in the bassinet, woke up to check on her saw she was missing, freaked out then saw she’d wedged herself between the bassinet and bed, and fallen asleep. I kept thinking she could have suffocated and we would’ve never noticed. what the hell I really hope this was one of those tragic freak accidents, because I can’t fathom this being on purpose…
I kept wondering if there was any sort of barrier to prevent the four year old from falling into the pit. After all, an active child might well run and fall or get too close and slip down the sides of a roughly dug hole. So I looked at the video again.
There’s no railing or fence and I’m wondering if this family lives in a trash dump. Look at all the crap junking up the backyard. And in the middle is a hole in the ground full of burning whatever.
This family was an accident waiting to happen. I have no sympathy for anyone but the dead baby, his sister, and the other kids the parents will doubtlessly spawn. At least it’s likely the parents will be a little more careful from now on.
I got this alert from the local news station http://www.king5.com
“The King County Prosecutor’s Office today filed charges of manslaughter in the second degree against Alberto Rios for the death of his seven-month-old son who fell into a fire pit at the family’s home in Federal Way last weekend. “
I looked at the alert. I don’t understand why the father’s being a twice-before-deported illegal alien means the bail should be a high amount. I can see the idea that keeping him in jail might keep him from harming himself, but not what his illegal alien status has to do with it.
They probably figure he will run rather than face charges.
haha - I totally meant to type avoidable and even noticed the mistake after I had posted and thought I had corrected it. Guess it didn’t take when I went to edit it.
Lack of sleep has been doing my head in lately. Here I am, 4:50am completely exhausted and still can’t fall asleep. It sucks.
Oh, I thought you might have meant avoidable. But people are being sympathetic to this guy, and I thought you might be serious, too.
As far as I’m concerned this man killed the child just as if he put it in the fire. He was drunk with a baby, pursued his own comfort and ease, and let the baby take its chances.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/368384_baby26.html
More details. Papa has a criminal record dating back to 1990.
“Rios’ previous arrests included possession of marijuana in 1990, driving with an open container of alcohol in 1994 and drug possession in 1995. He was convicted of drug possession in 1991. A felony harassment charge in 2001 involving domestic violence and allegations of heavy drinking was dismissed that year.”
So glad that after being deported 2 times, this guy regifted us with his presence in the U.S. for a third Alberto Rios experience. He’s really an example of the people we need here. Not as if we don’t have plenty of homegrown assholes.
There may be fire safety charges for the pit. For one thing, such a pit is supposed to be 25 feet away from anything flammable. Look at the video and you’ll see the backyard is like a trash dump. Also, “In Rios’ backyard, “there was not protection around it,” [Spokeswoman Cathy Schrock] said. “It was just a dugout hole.”
And a death pit for a baby. RIP little guy.
http://beyond90seconds.com/2008/06/26/father-of-baby-found-dead-in-fire-pit-no-stranger-to-law-deportation/
There are two additional videos in this link.
I thought you had to be charged with something in order for bail to be set. From what I understand, bail was set at $1 million while the police were still deciding whether or not to charge. Could someone tell me about this? I thought I understood procedures, but I guess not.
why did I read the court documents? Ugh. I feel ill.
Is there anyone that can explain the hole in the baby’s head? Could it be the soft spot? That part still has me wondering…
Can someone answer these questions for me please:
If it was supposedly an accident, are they charging him with homicide because they dont believe it was an accident, or because they believe he was negligent?
Was there an actual fire in the firepit, or just hot coals and ashes?
Like SoJaded asked, what is the hole in the head? Was it just burned or from falling?
Solange, I can only answer your first question. They believe it was an accident but, he was negligent.
Me, too. I feel as if I can smell the baby’s flesh.
What’s the woman screaming and the men (not man) yelling and the woman sounding as if she was being hurt? This story still isn’t adding up. To me, and I am no expert, it sounds as if the police are thinking more happened than was described.
As for the hole in the head, wouldn’t police officers know about a baby’s soft spot? After all, they have kids, too. Maybe they need to wait for the coroner to say officially and until then they can only describe that a hole existed.
Where are talking 100% of the babies body burnt. My bet is that it was the soft spot that was exposed. I can’t finds the words to say it any more delicately than that.
Honestly, I don’t want to.
that should be we’re…not where…I’m tired people. Be nice.
Holding my 9 month old son tonight I thought of baby Diego. He’s described as having been a sweet, happy baby. I am so sad for the families loss and the terrible way Diego died. I mostly feel this was a tragic accident, however, I would like to know what caused “the whole” in his head. Part of the story is missing. I want to know the whole story. WTF happened??
Long time reader, first time poster here.
I really think that this was an accident.
I think I’m probably one of the few here who think the little sister may actually be involved. Perhaps Dad was too out of it after he fell asleep and she wanted to help out with the baby, or maybe she wanted someone to play with. Perhaps the two were playing too close to the flames and he slipped in, fire pits dug like that are unstable (we had one similar when I was a child, I slipped into it once albeit it wasn’t in flames but it was very sleek). There is a chance the pair were playing, he was crawling to close to the pit, slipped, and his sister (scared of getting in trouble) played dumb.
I don’t know. I don’t have any children yet, so I don’t know about parenthood and the hardships that come with it, but I am the proud owner of two cats and I’d never consider throwing either of them into an open flame.
I think that’s a possibility, too. I know that my niece had to constantly be told NOT to pick up her baby brother. She was three, and nearly strong enough, but not strong enough to guarantee she could hang onto him safely. I think something like that may have happened, here. If so, I feel bad for the kid, she’s going to have a shitload of guilt following her around the rest of her life.
I don’t know. I took it that that’s how the witness interpreted what she was hearing. If I heard a loud party, then a woman screaming, my first thought would be that she was being hurt, not that the baby was in the barbeque.
That’s true, except for the part about more than one man’s voice being heard — and the father had had domestic violence charges once (then they were dropped). That info is in the charging papers. That’s what makes me curious.
I’m more curious about what happened now that i read the article posted by wrybread - it says the baby couldn’t crawl yet.
They had people over, didn’t they? If that’s so, it’s not surprising there was more than one male voice.
One domestic violence (dropped) charge doesn’t really sway me either way. If they were in the process of getting a divorce, that would tell me more. I’m inclined to believe that Big Sister tried to hold the baby and dropped it, or Dad passed out and knocked the kid off him in his sleep.
Should never have happened, but I feel sorry for these people.
They had a big party earlier than evening. Then the parents say the Dad decided to take the sick baby out to sleep by the firepit with him and the 4 year old sister. That was after the party was over and the witness (as I read it) said she then heard the male voices and the woman. We’ll probably never know or at least not until the trial.
*If* this was an accident (caused by some combination of stupidity, simple negligence, poverty, drunkenness, whatever), it’s a tragedy, yes, even for the parents. But most of all for the wee one, of course.
I don’t think poverty caused anyone to dig an open pit in their backyard and fail to think about the need to keep people from falling in. Nor did it cause anyone to get drunk and decide to sleep with a baby next to a hot firepit.
No shit, but does tend to be connected to ignorance and neglect.
Just a little update….”daddy dearest” entered a plea of not guilty in court yesterday. There was some speculation he was going to plead guilty, but that didn’t happen.
http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_070908WAB_fire_pit_baby_plea_TP.3cea8b4d.html
I like to keep them separated out because ignorance and neglect can be found among the wealthy. Poverty too often is pled as an excuse and it’s just not true that poor people can’t have common sense.
From the article: “Second-degree manslaughter alleges that an unintentional death resulted from negligent behavior by the defendant. If convicted, Rios faces a standard sentencing range of 21 to 27 months in prison.”
This drunken ass drops his baby in a firepit and then pleads not guilty to unintentional death resulting from negligent behavior?
And he’ll only get 27 months? Unbelieveable. Then he’ll be deported and be free to boomerang back to the U.S. a fourth time and have another anchor baby. The world is nuts.
I was reading this today and thought of this father…
pdf… file page 3 / column 1 / second last paragraph
http://www.bobobaby.com/articles/Newborn%20Babies%20and%20Sleep.pdf
Article updated with plea and sentencing information -
Not sure I feel good about ‘manslaughter’ charges and only two years. Even if it wasn’t intentional, it was damned stupid.
God bless little man.
Doesn’t anyone else think it’s strange that this guy had between three and six beers. That’s quite a difference. If you’ve only had three beers, you shouldn’t have to estimate how many beers you had, you would know.
If this guy weighed 200 lbs, and drank six beers over the course of a three hour party, he would still (theoretically) be within the legal limit to drive.
Seeing as how he’s a grown man, and certainly has experience with drinking, either he drank much more than he admitted to, or he was not drunk.
None of it matters. He fell asleep with the baby beside a lit fire pit. Wouldn’t have mattered if he had been drunk or not, charges would be the same. He very well could have just been a heavy sleeper.
No argument there, I just found it odd that while a lot of commenters were quick to jump on him for being drunk, and mom for letting him care for the baby while he was drunk, no one did the math.