Mom charged after lack of medical care leads to Garner child's death

More than three months after her 3-year-old son died, a Garner woman was arrested Wednesday and accused of showing "a reckless disregard for human life," according to a warrant.

Deysi Yhuriko Martinez, 22, of 8517 Bovine Place, was charged with negligent child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury, a felony. She was being held Thursday in the Wake County jail under a $500,000 bond.

Martinez's son, Eric, became ill on Aug. 9 and died the following day, according to the warrant. She "[failed] to provide care by neglecting to take Eric to a medical provider or call for medical services such as 911 to obtain medical treatment," the warrant states, adding that her "willful act and/or gross negligence omission" led to the boy's death.

"It's very hard to determine what type of injuries a child has," Garner police Capt. Joe Binns said Thursday. "They can’t verbally say what’s going on with them, so it's up to the parents to make sure they provide the emergency care a child needs at the time they need it."

Police said Martinez was living at the InTown Suites motel on U.S. Highway 70 at the time with her two sons and her boyfriend. Investigators learned that Eric had internal injuries when he was taken to WakeMed Garner late on Aug. 10.

"We got a call to go to WakeMed in Garner, that a 3-year-old child was being treated, was being admitted and that the child had some kind of internal injuries," Binns said. "We're still looking into how those injuries occurred, when those injuries may occurred, to what extent and the circumstances surrounding that whole incident."

Search warrants released Thursday indicate that Martinez's boyfriend was keeping Eric and his brother on Aug. 9 while she was at work and that he videotaped Eric throwing up and later holding his belly in pain. According to the application for the warrants, the boy continued to throw up during the night and into the next day, when the vomit "resembled coffee grounds."

Martinez tried to feed Eric some peeled grapes on the afternoon of Aug. 10, and when his jaw locked up and he became unresponsive, she and her boyfriend finally took him to WakeMed Garner for treatment, according to the application for the warrants. He died about a half hour after they arrived at the emergency room, and an autopsy determined trauma caused by force to his abdomen had torn his intestine and caused a fatal infection.

The search warrants were issued for police to examine the motel room and several cellphones that were found there. Investigators said in the warrant application that a video was missing from a phone when it was examined and that the boyfriend told police he had accidentally recorded over it after showing it to Martinez.

Investigators said that text messages found on the phones indicate that Martinez and her boyfriend were arguing on Aug. 9 while the two children were in the boyfriend's care.

Binns said more charges could be filed in the case. Wake County Assistant District Attorney Melanie Shekita even called the boyfriend a potential co-defendant during a Thursday afternoon court hearing.

Martinez's other child is in the custody of a relative, police said.

Other motel residents said they had worried about the two boys.

"Every time I come downstairs or I'm going to work, the children are always crying, and I'm always wondering what's wrong. I asked the little boys, are they OK, and they just burst out in tears," Jay Davis said. "It breaks my heart."