A Chicago mother has been found guilty of beating her four-year-old son to death.
A Cook County jury took just an hour on Thursday to find Crystal Valdez, 34, guilty of first degree murder in the death of her son, Christopher, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Christopher’s body was discovered by his aunt and uncle on November 25, 2011, the day after Thanksgiving and what was his fourth birthday.
Crystal Valdez, 34 (left), of Chicago, Illinois, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the fatal beating of her four-year-old son, Christopher (right), in November 2011
Christopher (center) was found dead on the day after Thanksgiving 2011, which was his fourth birthday
His aunt, Katrine Valdez, told the court she and her husband found his body covered in bruises and wrapped in a blanket in the bedroom of his mother’s house (pictured) after a neighbor, worried about his welfare, called her
After being contacted by a neighbor of the boy’s family, Katrine Valdez told the court that she and her husband went to go check on their nephew.
She said they pushed back Christopher’s mother and found the boy’s body, covered in bruises and wrapped in a blanket in the bedroom.
‘I pulled it, the cover flipped over, and Christopher was lying there on his side, his eyes open,’ Katrine Valdez said in her testimony this week.
‘I laid him on his back…And I said, “What did you do? What did you do?”‘
While no evidence was presented about Valdez’s specific role in Christopher’s fatal beating, witnesses said she had admitted months before his death to hitting the boy.
Prosecutors stated that in a 911 call after the boy’s body was found, Valdez could be heard in the background screaming: ‘I killed him, my Christopher.’
Court records show that Valdez was diagnosed with an intellectual disability and had a low IQ said to be in the 50s.
Although first agreeing to hear testimony about her IQ, Judge Stanley Sacks reversed his decision and blocked the defense from calling an expert to testify about her mental capacity.
The defense hinted at her limitations multiple times with witnesses saying she needed significant help accomplishing day-to-day activities.
Prosecutors stated that in a 911 call after the boy’s body was found, Valdez could be heard in the background screaming: ‘I killed him, my Christopher.’ Witnesses said she had admitted months before his death to hitting the boy
Defense argued that Valdez’s (left) mental limitations, with an IQ said to be in the 50s, made her incapable of such a murder and that her live-in boyfriend, Cesar Ruiz (right), was responsible. Ruiz, 40, was convicted of Christopher’s murder in 2013 and sentenced to 75 years in prison
It was Valdez’s live-in boyfriend, Cesar Ruiz, who beat the boy to death, defense attorneys said.
‘Crystal did not recognize that these were life-threatening injuries,’ Assistant Public Defender Brett Balmer said. ‘Crystal relied on others for help and for guidance. No one told her what to do.’
But prosecutors disagreed, saying Valdez could perform several normal function and should have known to call for help.
‘No one told her that she should call 911?’ Assistant State’s Attorney Jeff Allen asked jurors mockingly. ‘A woman that could cook a turkey, keep a clean house?…You don’t have to be a Rhodes scholar.’
Ruiz, 40, was convicted of Christopher’s murder in 2013 and sentenced to 75 years in prison.
At his trial, he said it was Valdez who was responsible for the deadly blows and that he had used makeup to conceal Christopher’s bruises but did not know how the boy came to be beaten.