STAMFORD — About a month after a baby died after an incident at a daycare facility in Stamford, police have made an arrest.
On July 12 around 3:15 p.m. first responders arrived at the Little Bears Beginnings Daycare on reports that a child was having trouble breathing. However, when the child, 2-month-old Bella Redondo, was evaluated, it was quickly determined she had some trauma to her head.
Bella was rushed to the hospital, but died at 6:20 p.m. Her death was ruled a homicide after the autopsy showed blunt force trauma to the had.
After numerous interviews, an arrest warrant was issued for Nydia Carrillo-Maldonado, 34, who operated the daycare according to the city of Stamford’s governmental website and the official state of Connecticut licensing database. She held an active family child care home license that was issued on April 17, 2015. She had an unannounced inspection on December 30, 2015.
Carrillo-Maldonado is charged with manslaughter in the first degree and risk of injury to a minor. Bond was set at $200,000 and she’s due in court August 22.
A press release from Stamford Police said, in part:
This case was a difficult one for the family, the community, and for investigators. Many parents put the trust of their children in the hands of daycare workers every day and this is every parent’s nightmare. This case was the departments’ top priority for the last several weeks.
Investigators worked tirelessly to bring the person responsible for the death of a defenseless two month old infant to justice and to assist in restoring the sanctity to the daycare profession.
This is still an ongoing investigation and we hope this arrest can assist in bringing closure to the Redondo family. This case was arduous for the family and for investigators and our condolences still extend to the Redondo family.
Carrillo-Maldonado’s license was suspended days after the death, and she decided to drop her legal fight to keep her daycare running.
In the days following the death, Lt. Diedrich Hohn, of the Stamford Police Department, told FOX 61, “We narrowed it down to three people in the daycare that could have the means to do this. we’re looking at a fall, we’re looking at any mechanism of injury that could’ve caused this kind of trauma to the skull.”
In less than one day $7,000 was raised on a GoFundMe set up to pay for Bella’s funeral expenses. In the past month it has raised more than $16,000.
