REMEMBERING ANAHI

Anahi Juarez was only ten months old when she died. She was still a baby, at an age when nearly everything in the world was new. She should have been learning to stand, exploring her surroundings, developing her first words and growing alongside her older brother, Jesus. Anahi lived with her parents and brother in Denver, Colorado. Public records surrounding her death tell us far more about the circumstances of her family and the final day of her life than they tell us about Anahi herself. That imbalance is one of the saddest parts of telling her story. Anahi was more than a child fatality report. She was a daughter, a little sister and a baby whose life had barely begun.

ANAHI’S STORY

Six months before Anahi died, Denver Human Services became involved with her family after her father drove his son to an emergency room while intoxicated. Anahi’s father acknowledged that he had been drinking but explained that his son was having difficulty breathing and that no one else was available to take him for medical treatment. Following that incident, Anahi’s parents cooperated with child protection workers. The family accepted visits and services, and workers believed they appeared to be making progress. On September 7, 2010, Anahi’s father left for work. Her mother had a medical appointment that morning. Anahi and her older brother, Jesus, were left in the care of their seventeen year old cousin, Arnoldo Rostro. While caring for the children, Arnoldo fell asleep. The children were left unsupervised. During that time, Jesus went into the bathroom and turned on the water in the bathtub. Ten month old Anahi somehow entered or fell into the bathtub. She drowned. By the time what had happened was discovered, Anahi could not be saved. The coroner determined that Anahi died from drowning and classified her death as accidental.

WARNING SIGNS

Anahi’s family had been involved with Denver Human Services before her death. Approximately six months earlier, an investigation had been opened after her father acknowledged driving while intoxicated with his son because the child was having difficulty breathing. The family subsequently cooperated with child protection workers and accepted home visits and services. Available records indicate that workers believed the family was making progress. Anahi’s death was not determined to have resulted from intentional abuse. Instead, the immediate danger on September 7, 2010, was a devastating lack of supervision. A seventeen year old had been entrusted with two very young children and fell asleep while caring for them. That lapse gave Anahi’s older brother enough time to enter the bathroom and turn on the bathtub water without an adult noticing. For a ten month old baby, only a brief period without supervision around water can become fatal.

JUSTICE FOR ANAHI

Anahi’s death was investigated by authorities. The coroner determined that she died from drowning and classified her death as accidental rather than homicide. Arnoldo Rostro, the seventeen year old cousin who had been responsible for supervising Anahi and her brother, was charged as a juvenile in connection with Anahi’s death. Because the case was handled through the juvenile justice system, the court file was sealed. A final publicly verifiable disposition is therefore not available. No conviction block is included because Abuse Angels does not present an unresolved or sealed juvenile case as a confirmed conviction.

FOREVER REMEMBERED

Anahi’s life lasted just eleven months shy of her first birthday. She never reached it. She never blew out a first birthday candle. She never had the opportunity to grow old enough to remember the brother who shared her home or the parents who expected to watch their daughter grow. The circumstances surrounding Anahi’s death were different from many of the children remembered by Abuse Angels. Her death was officially ruled accidental. There was no murder conviction. There was no finding that someone deliberately took her life. But there was a preventable loss of supervision, and the result was irreversible. Anahi was a ten month old baby who depended completely upon the people around her to recognize dangers she was far too young to understand. She deserved that protection. Her short life should not be reduced to the bathtub where it ended or the investigation that followed. Before any of those things, there was Anahi. A baby girl. A daughter. A sister. A child who was approaching her very first birthday and should have had countless birthdays after it. She did not get those years. She still deserves to have her name remembered. Abuse Angels remembers Anahi Juarez. Remembered. Honored. Never Forgotten.