This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
As a preliminary hearing resumed Friday in the 1988 death of a 15-month-old girl allegedly killed by the mother's roommate, a medical examiner testified that the child was too old to have succumbed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
Deputy Utah Medical Examiner Ed Leis added that most of the girl's injuries go beyond the scope of what could be considered accidental, and are most likely from inflicted trauma. She had several bruises on her face and internal head injuries, including two small skull fractures, Leis testified.
Louis Mark Duran, now 53, is charged in 3rd District Court with second-degree murder, a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in prison, for the Oct. 3, 1988 death of Vanessa Nieto in Salt Lake City.
In Leis' opinion, the girl would have been unable to function normally within minutes of her severe injuries, though he acknowledged on the stand that there is some professional debate on this topic.
The hearing began in October with testimony from the girl's mother, Dawn Nieto, who had moved in with Duran and his sister after leaving "a bad relationship" with the girl's father, according to the charges. Vanessa didn't have any injuries or bruises before moving in, the charges add.
The mother testified that Vanessa had bruises on her head and cheeks shortly before she died. The head bruise happened first; Nieto had come home one day after leaving Vanessa at the Salt Lake City apartment, and was told that the child may have fallen off the bed.
The day Vanessa died, Nieto ran errands and left the girl at home with Duran, since she thought Vanessa was sick. She was asleep with a bottle when Nieto left.
She still appeared to be asleep when Nieto came back in the afternoon. Nieto left again to run more errands and returned to the apartment, near 400 S. 1000 West, at dusk. But when she checked on Vanessa, she could see vomit on the side of the girl's mouth. Her mouth looked blue.
Paramedics pronounced the baby dead.
The case went cold, but a police detective eventually found and interviewed several witnesses to events leading up to the child's death. A medical examiner also recently reviewed the initial autopsy and determined the girl suffered blows to the head, which caused complications that killed her. The medical examiner also verified that Vanessa suffered older injuries and fresher injuries not related to the ones that killed her, all of which "are consistent with having been inflicted by another person," according to the charges.
Detectives interviewed Duran earlier this year, and he told them that he was taking care of the girl the day she died and that no other adult was there. While he admitted to having caused bite marks on the girl's forearm and face, he "otherwise said he couldn't tell the officers what happened that day," according to the charges.
Duran was charged and arrested in May. His preliminary hearing is scheduled to continue on Dec. 3.
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