Prosecutors on Monday charged a Moorhead couple with the murder of a 3-year-old boy who was beaten to death while in their care.
The charges filed in Clay County District Court accuse Rosa Esperanza Garza, 24, and Shiann Lynn Erickson, 22, of killing the boy in March. Investigators received the final autopsy report June 28 that states the homicide was caused by an assault, notably a blow that perforated the boy’s bowel. The report said the boy suffered 28 blunt force injuries.
Garza and Erickson were booked Monday at the Clay County jail in Moorhead and remain in custody. They are both charged with second-degree murder while committing felony child neglect and endangerment.
The victim, Eastyn James Deronjic, was outgoing and loved to play with his Nerf Guns, according to his obituary. Deronjic’s family marched 4 miles in June, from the crime scene to the police station, in hopes that charges would be filed in the boy’s suspicious death.
According to the criminal complaint:
Moorhead police and paramedics responded March 18 to an apartment on Belsly Boulevard after a 911 call about a boy not breathing came in around 1 a.m. Officers saw heavy bruising on Eastyn’s face and body. They attempted life-saving measures before taking him to Sanford Medical Center in Fargo, where he died.