Dalton mom Catarina Castro-Moran denied dead daughter medical help
Dalton police say they have charged a 21-year-old mother in connection with the death of her young daughter after responding officers found the child dead. Investigators said the child died because her mother didn't get her help when she was sick.
Catarina Castro-Moran is charged with second degree murder, cruelty to children, making false statements to police and identity fraud. On New Year's Eve morning, police answered a call at an apartment on Whitener Drive. The caller told police a child was unresponsive.
When police arrived around 6 a.m. they found Castro-Moran's 17-month-old daughter in her bed. Police and EMT's tried to resuscitate the child but she was already dead. Castro-Moran told police her daughter became ill just one day earlier on Wednesday but police said that was a false statement. "We were able to determine the child's been sick going back to last week and her fever's been pretty high for several days," said Dalton spokesperson Bruce Frazier.
Police also found out that Castro-Moran took her child to Hamilton Medical Center in Dalton on Monday, three days before the child was found dead. Doctors told the mother her daughter needed treatment, but police said Castro-Moran left the hospital before her daughter was helped.
Police said because Moran neglected her child by not getting her treatment they have charged her with second degree murder. "We don't have any reason to believe that this is a situation where there was any intent behind this," Frazier said. "We have every reason to believe this mother wanted this child to get better, but obviously that didn't happen."
Police said Castro-Moran was charged with identity fraud because she possessed false identifications. -
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Mother denied bond, ‘significant risk to flee’
By Shaka Cobb shakacobb@daltoncitizen.com | Posted 14 hours ago
The attorney for a woman charged with second-degree murder in the death of her 17-month-old daughter said Friday the events of Dec. 31 were “tragic,” which was echoed by a judge.
Kelly Wegel with the public defender’s office requested a “reasonable bond” for 21-year-old Catarina Castro Moran, which was denied by Whitfield County Superior Court Judge Jim Wilbanks.
“Ms. Castro Moran is a mother that lost her child,” Wegel said. “It’s very unlikely she will be arrested or re-offend ...”
“This seems like a tragic thing to happen to a mother, and on top of that a mother that doesn’t speak our language and has no power in our society,” Wegel said.
Moran is also charged with first-degree cruelty to children, identify fraud and making false statements to law enforcement officers.
Assistant District Attorney Dixon Lackey said the state was against granting a bond.
“Our information is that she entered this county illegally in July 2015 from Guatemala,” Lackey said.
Moran was supposed to appear for a hearing with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Atlanta but never did, Lackey said.
“There is an ICE hold on her,” Lackey said. “The state believes she is a flight risk.”
Wegel said Moran told her hospital staff said medical care would be expensive for her daughter because she didn’t have insurance and would have to pay out of pocket.
“She said she wasn’t able to pay more than $1,000 and was worried about getting in trouble for services and not being able to pay for it,” Wegel said.
“Her child died of an illness, her child had been sick for several days, and she took her to the hospital on Monday (Dec. 28),” Wegel said.
Moran took her daughter home from the hospital and had a babysitter watch her, Wegel said. “They were coming up with money to take the child to the doctor, ” Wegel said. “In the meantime the mother bought medicine and gave it to her daughter.”
The child was found unresponsive by Moran on New Year’s Eve morning, officials have said.
“Unfortunately her child did pass away,” Wegel said.
Wilbanks questioned the identity of Moran since the identity fraud charge stems from her working under a false name.
“How do we know who she is?” he asked.
Lackey said there is no way to tell.
“Our first contact we usually rely on the defendant saying what their name is, so we don’t know,” he said.
Wilbanks said that raises concerns.
“For all purposes we accept who she says she is whether or not that’s true or not,” he said.
He called the circumstances “tragic.”
“They involve very serious allegations. Unfortunately this defendant has no history of contact with not only this county but this country,” Wilbanks said. “It seems that she came into the country and was detained at some point by ICE and allowed to be released back into society of the United States without any effective way of keeping up with her.”
Wilbanks denied bond, calling Moran a “significant risk to flee.”
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