“Baby Angelita” was allegedly run over shortly after birth, California authorities say

By Tim Fang

Authorities on California’s Central Coast provided additional details in the “Baby Angelita” case, saying she may have been run over by a vehicle driven by her 14-year-old mother shortly after being born.

On Thursday, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, FBI and other law enforcement held a briefing about the case, several days after the girl’s father, 38-year-old Salvador Galvez Perez, was arrested in Mexico for suspected incest and sexual abuse. The 14-year-old was also located by Mexican authorities and rescued.

“It is one of the more difficult ones,” said Detective Richard Geng of the violent crimes unit. “By difficult, I’m not referring to the evidentiary aspect of it. I’m referring to the human side of it. Anyone who has touched this case has been affected by it in some way.”

The newborn, dubbed Baby Angelita by deputies, was found on the side of a road near Highway 1 in Moss Landing on the morning of Aug. 1 and was pronounced dead at the scene. According to Geng, the infant was found with “extensive crush type trauma” near tire impressions and blood-soaked soil.

An autopsy was performed on the infant on Aug. 3, with results still pending, deputies said.

Video and witness statements led authorities to a beige Mercury sedan that was seen going to and from the scene around the time of the incident. A license plate reader traced the vehicle to the teen’s parents.

On the afternoon of Aug. 3, a search warrant was served at the parents’ home and the parents were interviewed. Geng said the 14-year-old was found hiding under a pile of clothes in a bedroom.

The teen, who was interviewed separately, said she had a sexual relationship with an underage juvenile male and gave birth, according to Geng. Detectives took the teen to the hospital and a sexual assault investigation was opened.

The following day, deputies said Perez took the 14-year-old from the hospital before she was medically discharged. In the following days, authorities obtained multiple search warrants for phone downloads, call detail records, location information and medical records.

Detectives determined that the teen drove herself and her mother to a nearby agricultural field for work that day. According to witness statements, the teen got into the driver’s seat before leaving the scene, which is the moment that detectives believe the baby was run over.

According to Geng, the 14-year-old “regularly” drove the vehicle. In California, the minimum age to obtain a driver’s license is 16 years old.

Detectives said that text messages indicated that the 14-year-old’s mother did not know what happened at the scene. Perez was in the San Francisco Bay Area at the time of the incident and Geng said so far there is no “clear evidence of him in any way” encouraging the baby’s death.

On Aug. 19, DNA evidence determined that Perez was the father of the newborn and a warrant for felony sexual assault was obtained. Deputies said despite re-interviewing the mother and other family members, efforts to find the pair were not successful.

Geng said that a tip received by authorities on Sept. 14 indicated that Perez and the 14-year-old were in Mexico. The tip was shared with federal authorities, and Perez was arrested on suspicion of drug possession.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Scott Schelble described the case as a “deeply troubling investigation” and that the teen suffered “unimaginable abuse.”

“What happened in this case is nothing short of horrific. The facts uncovered by the Monterey County investigators shocked us all,” Schelble said.

Schelble said extradition for Perez is pending. He is accused of incest, lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14, lewd acts with a minor, unlawful sexual intercourse, child concealment and child endangerment.

The teen’s mother, identified as 36-year-old Ofelia Garcia Ortega, was arrested Tuesday. Garcia Ortega is accused of putting her daughter to work in the fields as a 13-year-old using falsified documents, allowing her to drive without a license and kept her out of school.

Garcia Ortega is accused of two felony counts of displaying or possessing a forged identification card, a misdemeanor count of permitting a child to suffer or be endangered, and a misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.