Murder charges filed against mother of slain 4-year-old boy - Chicago Sun-Times

By Kim Janssen Staff Reporter/kjanssen@suntimes.com November 28, 2011 1:36PM

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Crystal Valdez / Photo provided by the Chicago Police Department.

Updated: November 28, 2011 7:27PM

A mom accused of teaming up with her boyfriend to beat her 4-year-old son to death on the boy's birthday last week had tearfully admitted this summer to punching the child so hard that he had to be hospitalized, court records show.

The records offer an eerie foreshadowing of Friday's murder of little Christopher Valdez and raise serious questions about the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services' handling of the case.

Crystal Valdez told investigators at Oak Lawn's Advocate Christ Hospital in July that she had used make-up to cover her son's bruises after she beat him for crying, the records show.

Though she told them "I punched him — I have anger issues," and was in October convicted of domestic battery against her son, DCFS in August found that allegations of abuse were unsubstantiated, allowing her to keep the boy and his 5-year-old sister.

The 28-year-old and her lover Cesar Ruiz, 34, killed Christopher on Friday then covered his bruises with make-up, just 34 days after Judge James Murphy found her guilty and sentenced her to a conditional discharge and parenting classes, prosecutors alleged in court Monday.

As a sobbing Crystal Valdez protested her innocence in court next to an impassive Ruiz on Monday, DCFS spokesman Jimmy Whitlow refused to comment further on social workers' handling of the case.

It remains unclear how DCFS investigators concluded that there was not "credible evidence to support an allegation of abuse" in the earlier attack when Judge Murphy found evidence to meet the far higher legal standard of "beyond a reasonable doubt." DCFS did find evidence of neglect, spokesman Kendall Marlowe said Sunday.

In court Monday, prosecutors upgraded Crystal Valdez's charges to include first degree murder. Ruiz, whose "Grim Reaper" tattoo was visible on his right arm as he stood next to Valdez before Judge Donald Panarese, was charged with murder Sunday. Valdez was originally charged only with attempting to conceal the murder and with endangering the child's life.

Maureen Hughes, an assistant Cook County state's attorney, said both defendants made videotaped confessions.

Valdez admitted she'd spanked the boy twice in the week before he died, and admitted witnessing Ruiz beating Christopher on Thanksgiving and on Friday, the child's birthday, Hughes said.

Ruiz hit and kneed the child in the stomach and Valdez saw him apply make-up to cover the bruises, the prosecutor added.

Ruiz admitted he'd spanked and hit Christopher several times, then covered up the bruises, it's alleged.

Valdez's brother and sister-in-law found Christopher's dead body wrapped in a blanket at his home in the 5100 block of South Trumbull after relatives called and told them he had appeared at a Thanksgiving celebration with a swollen eye, Hughes said. Christopher had refused to eat at the dinner and had vomited, she said.

Confronted by the relatives at her home Friday, Valdez lied that her children were not there, Hughes said. When they found the body, she yelled that Ruiz had done it and "he said he was sorry," Hughes added.

Paramedics noticed the make-up used to conceal the injuries to Christopher's face and arms, she said.

Caroline Glennon, an assistant public defender representing Valdez, said Valdez was a mom of four who had special educational needs as a result of lead poisoning as a child. She has split up with Ruiz, Glennon said.

Valdez wept and exclaimed "I didn't do anything" towards relatives in the gallery after the judge set her bail at $ 750,000. Ruiz showed no emotion as he was ordered held on bail of $ 2.5 million.

Outside court, Ruiz's sister Maria Castillo said she did not understand why her brother's bail was higher than Valdez's, given her history of violence against Christopher, or why Valdez was allowed to continue to raise the boy.

"Why the children were given back to her I have no idea — it's beyond me," Castillo said Monday. "It's a tragedy."

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