Police have arrested a 28-year-old pregnant woman following a year-long manhunt after her baby son was beaten to death.
Police say the baby, aged one, had suffered broken legs, a broken jaw, a broken mouth, as well as fractures to his chest, arms and head.
Henry Gabriel Marinho Vidal died of blunt-force trauma to the head in Jatai, in the south-eastern Brazilian state of Goias, on 8th February 2022, three days after being admitted to hospital.
The boy’s parents claimed that he had fallen out of bed but the police did not believe them.
The police suspect that his mother Brenda Cristina Vidal Marinho and his stepfather Jaredy Wanderley da Silva, 26, beat him to death, according to local media.
The pair were indicted in May 2022 and went on the run, abandoning their home with all of their belongings and furniture still in it, and with her then evading capture for over a year.
Investigators determined that baby Henry had been a victim of repeated aggression and abuse.
Earlier this month, the Civil Police of Goias revealed the result of their investigation into Henry’s death, saying that the number and nature of the injuries found on the victim’s tiny body indicated that he had been mistreated for several days.
They also said that he had suffered a number of injuries including broken legs, a broken jaw, a broken mouth, as well as fractures to his chest, arms and head.
Vidal Marinho was arrested in Betim, a town in the state of Minas Gerais on Tuesday night, 16th May, after the authorities received an anonymous tip.
They also discovered that she is pregnant again, according to local media, although it is currently unclear who the father is.
The stepdad is still on the run.
The investigator in charge of the case, named as Marlon Souza Luz, said that Vidal Marinho demonstrated a “total inhumanity and indifference to the suffering of the child” and that she failed to protect her child from the stepfather.
The police suspect the mother of being an accomplice in the child abuse and also of doing nothing to stop the stepfather from harming Henry.
Vidal Marinho has been detained at the Vespasiano women’s prison. She faces up to 12 years behind bars.
