Mother, 3 others arrested after body of young child brought to hospital

GARDNER, Mass — A woman is facing charges, along with three others, in connection to the death of her 3-year-old daughter.

Kerri Anne Santos, 33, whose last known address is in Massachusetts, is charged with child abuse resulting in death, child abuse resulting in great bodily harm, and aiding/abetting in criminal sexual contact of a minor, according to our sister station Boston 25.

Albuquerque Police said Santos showed up at a New Mexico hospital on Saturday around 4 a.m. with three young children, including her 3-year-old daughter wrapped in a blanket.

Medical staff attempted to pull back the blanket to examine the child but Santons pulled away, according to a criminal complaint.

Officials said staff were eventually able to get the child where they found she was already dead.

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Santos told detectives the child hadn’t been feeling well and she stopped at a gas station so the 3-year-old could use the restroom, according to a criminal complaint,

She claimed the child fell from the toilet, injuring herself, and that was when she drove to the hospital.

Detectives were suspicious of the story due to several inconsistencies with the timeline of events and the child having several bruises in different stages of healing, Boston 25 reported.

When Albuquerque police talked to police in Massachusetts they found there were multiple domestic violence reports filed against Santos and suspicious of Santos using drugs around her children.

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Investigators learned two other adults, Christina Hopkins Pena-Cantor and her son, Austin Bing, drove with Santos and her three children to New Mexico. They had been in Albuquerque for a few days and stayed at an apartment with another man, James Welch.

According to the criminal complaint, one of the adults would tie the 3-year-old girl at the ankles and wrists with shoe laces. The complaint also says that all three children had been sexually molested and the injuries to the 3-year-old occurred at Welch’s house.

Court records show on Friday night, the 3-year-old was taken to the bathroom when she fell and hit her head. Santos allegedly argued with Pena-Cantor and Bing to bring her to a hospital but agreed to lie about what happened.

Pena-Cantor is charged with child abuse resulting in death, and two counts of child abuse. Bing is charged with child abuse resulting in death, and child abuse.

Santos, Pena-Cantor, Bing, and Welch are being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Albuquerque.

We will continue to update this story as new information becomes available.

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