EL MONTE – The mother of a 2-year-old
girl who died earlier this year was arrested
today on a felony warrant charging her and
her boyfriend with the child’s murder, the
District Attorney’s office announced.
Claudia Cuevas, 28, was charged with
murder and child abuse yesterday after
release of a coroner’s autopsy report showing
the toddler died of a lacerated liver. The
report indicted many other serious internal
and external injuries to the child,
authorities said.
Cuevas (dob 6-1-1973), who is being
held on $1 million bail, is scheduled to be
arraigned tomorrow in Division 5 of Rio Hondo
Superior Court in El Monte. Also appearing in
court tomorrow is her 21-year-old boyfriend,
Jose Manuel Lopez (dob 4-6-1981), who already
has been charged with the child’s murder. He
too is being held on $1 million bail.
Deputy District Attorney Kathleen Cady
of the Pomona office filed an amended felony
complaint yesterday in case No. KA 056322,
charging both Lopez and Cuevas with the March
11 murder of Amber Marie Valdez. They also
were charged with one count of child abuse
with the allegation that death resulted. The
amended complaint additionally charges Lopez
with an additional count of child abuse
causing death.
Lopez, who was to appear in court
tomorrow for scheduling of a preliminary
hearing, is expected to be arraigned on the
amended complaint.
Amber was the youngest of Cuevas’ three
children. The woman also has an older
daughter and son, ages 9 and 7 at the time of
the little girl’s death. Cuevas was separated
from Amber’s father and living with Lopez at
the time of the little girl’s death,
authorities said.
Authorities said Lopez was caring for
the child on March 11 of this year while
Cuevas was working. Cuevas’s other children
were at the El Monte residence when Amber
became ill. Homicide investigators told news
reporters that Lopez said the little girl
possibly drank some of his "Night Train," a
potent, cheap wine, after he fell asleep. She
was taken to Greater El Monte Community
Hospital, where she died.
The cause of death remained
undetermined until recently, when the final
autopsy report was completed by the coroner’s
office, Cady said.
sg
