Babysitter in Arkansas arrested on manslaughter charge after 8-month-old dies

Melissa Garcia-Rivera, 21
Melissa Garcia-Rivera, 21

A babysitter in Arkansas has been arrested on a manslaughter charge after an 8-month-old girl she was caring for died earlier this week, police say.

Melissa Garcia-Rivera, 21, was booked into the Benton County jail around 7:45 p.m. Thursday, records show. She remained there as of Friday afternoon, and no bail has been set.

Rivera’s fiance, Marco Antonio Garcia, took the infant to Mercy Medical Hospital on Tuesday, according to the affidavit. A detective with the Rogers Police Department responded to the hospital a short time later.

Medical staff told authorities that the child, whose temperature was around 100.5 degrees when she arrived, showed no signs of injuries. She was soaked in what was believed to be sweat, an officer said.

Garcia-Rivera reportedly changed her account of what happened to the child multiple times over the course of interviews, initially saying she merely found the child not breathing while checking on her, according to the affidavit.

The report states that Garcia-Rivera later said she had placed two pillows on top of the 8-month-old in an effort to get her to sleep and to prevent the infant from pushing herself up while lying on her stomach.

Most accounts described the child as “fussing” earlier in the day, prompting the babysitter to take some form of action.

Garcia-Rivera also went back and forth on whether she had been frustrated with the child, insisting that she did not intentionally kill her, police said.

On Thursday, Garcia-Rivera told authorities by phone that the truth was that she laid the child down for a nap and found her unresponsive about an hour later.

Garcia-Rivera said two pillows had been placed beside her, with a blanket covering the infant. When the babysitter went to check on the 8-month-old, the child was lying on her stomach with the blanket almost entirely covering her, according to the affidavit. A pillow was also reportedly on top of her.

Police said Garcia-Rivera later admitted to pulling the blanket over the child's head, explaining that she was "just trying to keep it dark so [the infant] would go to sleep."

The babysitter reportedly told authorities that she "did not understand why [the child] did not kick the pillows and blanket off."

Over the course of the interviews, Garcia-Rivera explained that she was afraid because she was trying to obtain U.S. citizenship, did not want the child taken away and did not want to go to jail.

An autopsy was inconclusive regarding the cause of the toddler’s death, the affidavit states. No trauma or signs of defect or disease were found, according to the medical examiner.

Records show Garcia-Rivera has an appearance set for Nov. 20 in Benton County Circuit Court.

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