Boy age 9 killed in Salt Lake City.
This made me sick to my stomach. These people claim they did not know these people were illegal? Bull Crap! Third world countries don't know about freezing to death?
boy and placed him on the floor. He did not recover.
Punishment cited in icy death of boy
Sister, friend charged with murder; victim, 9, called 'happy, smiling'
By Jason Bergreen
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 07/28/2007 01:36:53 AM MDT
Click photo to enlargeGloria Velasco, mother of slaying victim Josue Contreras-Velasco, tells news... (Courtesy photo)«12»The 9-year-old boy who died of hypothermia at a Salt Lake City restaurant was held naked in a trash can of ice water for 45 minutes by his sister and her friend as a disciplinary measure, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday.
Pedro Gaucin-Canales, 36, and Rebecca Hernandez-Velasco, 19, were each charged with first-degree felony murder in the death of a boy identified in the 3rd District Court complaint as "J.C."
A family friend on Friday identified the victim as Josue Contreras-Velasco, the brother of Hernandez-Velasco.
Gloria Velasco, Josue's mother, blinked slowly and cried Friday at her home where friends and family had gathered.
"He was very happy and always smiling," she said by way of Jerica Gomez, a family friend who translated from Spanish. "He was very playful and like a jokester."
On Sunday, Gaucin-Canales told a naked Contreras-Velasco to get into a large garbage can in the kitchen of the Melting Pot, 340 S. Main St., and had the boy's sister retrieve several buckets of ice and cold water, which Gaucin-Canales put into the can, according to the complaint.
Contreras-Velasco stayed there for 45 minutes as a disciplinary measure, the complaint states.
Gaucin-Canales claims he then put Josue in warm water after he lost consciousness, jail records state. Gaucin-Canales then removed the unconscious boy and placed him on the floor. He did not recover.
Emergency crews responded to the restaurant about 9:30 a.m. Sunday and found Josue dead. Police initially said he appeared to have suffered a seizure.
An autopsy determined the boy's body temperature had plummeted to 76 degrees, 22 below normal, and he likely died of hypothermia, according to police and the complaint.
On Wednesday, police booked Gaucin-Canales, 36, into the Salt Lake County jail on suspicion of killing Josue.
Josh and Jenny Stout, who manage the Salt Lake City apartment building where Gaucin-Canales lived with his wife, hoped the allegations against their tenant was somehow a mistake.
"Pedro was a very good, kind man," said Jenny Stout. "He was kind to us and the other tenants."
"He came across as just a nice guy," added Josh Stout. "A nice humble guy."
On Thursday morning, Josue's sister also was booked into jail. Both suspects worked at the restaurant and, according to jail records, are believed to be in the country illegally.
Gloria Velasco said she was going to the Salt Lake County jail Friday night to visit her daughter.
A fund for Josue's funeral expenses has been established at Wells Fargo banks in the name of Melting Pot Memorial Fund. As police continue to investigate the alleged crime, other questions remain, such as why the Melting Pot employed undocumented immigrants and why a 9-year-old was allowed in the kitchen area of the restaurant.
A spokeswoman for Melting Pot, Kendra Sartor, said Gaucin-Canales and Hernandez-Velasco supplied documentation showing they could legally be in the country. Sartor said she was not aware of any law or restaurant policy prohibiting Josue from being in the working area of the restaurant.
