REMEMBERING MELANIE

Melanie Beltran was five years old. She was one of eight children born to Mila Petrov and Carlos Beltran and lived with her family in suburban Cook County, Illinois  There is something especially important about remembering Melanie beyond the terrible details of her death because so much of what remains publicly documented about her childhood describes suffering. But Melanie was not born as a child-abuse case. She was a little girl. She should have been getting ready for kindergarten or elementary school, learning to read, making friends, playing with her brothers and sisters and discovering all the things that made her happy. Instead, investigators would later determine that Melanie had endured abuse for years. After her death, the investigators who worked her case found it difficult to simply move on from the little girl whose life they had reconstructed. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart kept an artist's drawing of Melanie near his office. Members of the sheriff's department later helped organize events in her memory, and a police K-9 was even named Melanie in her honor. People who had never gotten the chance to know Melanie while she was alive made sure that her name continued to be spoken after her death. Her name was Melanie Beltran. She was five years old. And her life deserved far more than the five years she was given.

MELANIE'S STORY

By the time Melanie died in March 2007, authorities determined that she had been subjected to prolonged physical and emotional abuse. Investigators found evidence that Melanie had repeatedly been beaten. She had been burned with scalding water. She had suffered burns consistent with cigarettes. She was reportedly tied up as punishment and subjected to cruel treatment involving food and hot sauce. The abuse had been occurring for years. Carlos Beltran knew his daughter was being hurt.

According to facts later included in his written plea agreement, Carlos had seen bruises and burns on Melanie's body. He knew Mila had struck Melanie with a belt. At one point, he began hiding his belts because he did not want Mila using them to hit their daughter. He also saw Melanie after she had been badly scalded in a bathtub.

Her skin began peeling from the burns. Rather than taking Melanie for professional medical treatment, Carlos attempted to treat her injuries himself. The injuries continued  He saw new bruises appear around Melanie's face and eyes. Still, Melanie remained in the home.

WHAT HAPPENED TO MELANIE

In March 2007, the violence against Melanie became fatal. According to prosecutors, Mila became angry with Melanie after the five year old vomited. During the assault that followed, Mila slammed Melanie's head into a wall. Melanie was struck repeatedly. Investigators said Melanie was also force fed hot sauce, something that had reportedly been used as punishment before. The following day, Melanie's condition was clearly deteriorating. She was vomiting. The violence continued. Eventually, Melanie's eyes rolled backward and she collapsed. Yet even then, help was not immediately summoned. Investigators were told that children in the home were directed to clean the house before authorities arrived. When emergency responders finally reached Melanie, she was unconscious. She was transported to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital. Melanie never regained consciousness. On March 14, 2007, five year old Melanie Beltran died. Her mother gave birth to another child that same day.

An autopsy determined that Melanie died from blunt force trauma to her head. But the examination of her body revealed far more than the injury that ultimately killed her. There were bruises around her eyes. There were abrasions  There were second  and third degree burns consistent with scalding. There were circular burns consistent with cigarettes. And some of the injuries were of different ages, providing physical evidence that Melanie's suffering had not begun on the day she received her fatal injury.

A CHILD WHO NEEDED SOMEONE TO PROTECT HER

One of the most difficult parts of Melanie's story is that at least one other adult in her home knew she was being abused. Carlos Beltran later admitted that he knew Melanie was continuously being injured while in Mila's care. He had seen the evidence himself. He saw bruises. He saw burns. He saw Melanie after she had been scalded. He knew Mila used a belt against their daughter strongly enough that he hid his belts from her. Yet according to his plea agreement, Carlos failed to take adequate steps to protect Melanie. He admitted that he did not want to believe Mila was responsible and that he feared she would leave him if he intervened because he wanted to keep the family together. Melanie was five. She could not remove herself from the home. She could not make the adults around her choose her safety over their relationship. She needed someone else to make that choice for her. No one did in time.

JUSTICE FOR MELANIE

Both of Melanie's parents were originally charged with first degree murder. Their cases ultimately ended differently. Carlos Beltran reached a negotiated plea agreement in July 2009. He pleaded guilty to aggravated battery of a child. As part of the agreement, Carlos admitted knowing that Melanie was repeatedly being injured and failing to adequately protect her. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Mila Petrov initially faced the possibility of the death penalty. In November 2009, she pleaded guilty to first degree murder after prosecutors agreed to remove the death penalty from consideration. At her sentencing hearing, prosecutors presented photographs documenting the injuries Melanie had suffered. The judge sentenced Mila Petrov to 39 years in prison.

 

Mila Petrov
Relationship to Melanie: Mother
Conviction: First-degree murder
Sentence: 39 years in prison

 

Carlos Beltran
Relationship to Melanie: Father
Conviction: Aggravated battery of a child
Sentence: 20 years in prison

FOREVER REMEMBERED

Melanie Beltran was five years old. Much of the surviving record of her childhood tells us about pain. Bruises. Burns. Punishments. Hospital records. Police photographs. Courtrooms. Those things tell us what happened to Melanie. They do not tell us who Melanie should have had the opportunity to become. There should have been a sixth birthday. There should have been elementary school. Friends  Sleepovers. Teenage years. Graduation. There should have been a day when Melanie was old enough to leave childhood behind and decide for herself what kind of life she wanted. She never received that chance. But something remarkable happened after Melanie died. The people who investigated her death refused to allow her to simply become another closed case. Members of the Cook County Sheriff's Department continued honoring her memory. A fundraiser was created in her name to support scholarships and raise awareness about child abuse. A K-9 was named Melanie.

And Sheriff Tom Dart kept a drawing of the five year old girl whose case had affected his department so deeply. Melanie should never have needed strangers to preserve her memory after her death. She should have been here to create those memories herself. Her name was Melanie Beltran. She was five years old. She was a daughter.

She was a sister. She was a child whose safety should have mattered more than keeping a family together. Abuse Angels remembers Melanie Beltran not for the cruelty inflicted upon her, but as the five-year-old little girl whose life mattered and whose name continues to be spoken by people determined not to let her disappear into the circumstances of her death. We remember Melanie. We speak her name. And Melanie will not be forgotten.