The body of a 5-year-old boy was discovered in a ravine in Fraser, one month after he died in San Antonio, where authorities believed that he was abused and died in a hotel room, according to police documents.
The boy was identified as Domenic Patrick Aguilar-Acevedo, who died July 25.
His mother, Nickolle Cristina Aguilar, 25, and Daniel Garcia, 26, are both being held on charges of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury-death, The Gazette reported.
According to arrest warrants, Aguilar told authorities that the 5-year-old boy died in a San Antonio hotel, July 25, after her boyfriend threw the boy against a wall. The boy then started getting sick and throwing up.
According to the warrant, they didn’t seek medical treatment for the boy despite feeling ill because both were worried about losing custody of their other children.
Aguilar also told police that Garcia has been physically abusing the boy weeks before his death.
After the boy’s death, Aguilar and Garcia drove to Colorado the following morning and set up a camp near Rocky Mountain National Park where they left Domenic’s body. They continued driving to Mexico and later to Costa Rica, the warrant says.
Nickolle Aguilar’s mother traced her daughter to Costa Rica and on Aug. 16, where she confronted her daughter about what happened to the boy. Aguilar confessed to her mother about what happened, and the mother contacted San Antonio Police Department and the FBI, according to the warrant.
After the FBI confirmed the information Aguilar told her mother, officials searched the campsite near Rocky Mountain National Park on Wednesday and found the boy’s body down a deep ravine near Fraser. The body has been exposed to elements and animal activity, the warrant said.
Larimer County Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy on the body. Though results are pending, evidence of trauma was found.
Aguilar and Garcia are in Miami and likely to be deported to San Antonio to face formal charges.
