Thread: Mom, lover arrested in boy's death

Mom, lover arrested in boy's death

Fugitives caught in Mexico had fled Nashville in 2003; abuse victim's body dumped in park

By CHRISTIAN BOTTORFF
Staff Writer


The mother of a slain 4-year-old boy and her ex-boyfriend were in custody in Mexico yesterday, charged with killing the child and dumping his body in a west Nashville park more than three years ago, federal and local authorities said.

The burned and battered body of Luis Osvaldo Cisneros was discovered Feb. 23, 2003, face-down behind a pile of dirt at West Park. An autopsy found he died of battered child syndrome.




His mother, Martha Patlan, and her boyfriend at the time, Genero Espinosa Dorantes, vanished from the Nashville area before police could interview them about the death.

Patlan, 31, was arrested Feb. 20 and cooperated in the search for her former boyfriend, authorities said. Dorantes, 35, was arrested late Saturday. He had been on the FBI's Top Ten Fugitive list, a group that includes Osama Bin Laden.

"We just think it's a great opportunity to once again tell everybody who lives in Nashville that these cases never go away, that we will continue to pursue them no matter who the victims are, no matter what neighborhood they live in, no matter what they look like, no matter who they know," Metro Police Chief Ronal Serpas said in a news conference.

"If you've been victimized, and your family's been victimized, this police department and our partners — powerful partners at the federal, state and national level — will not rest until we bring these people to justice," he said.

Both of the suspects are being held in Mexico; it was unclear yesterday when or if they will be returned to the United States.

The Mexican government does not typically extradite prisoners to the U.S. who are Mexican nationals facing a possible death sentence.

"I've never seen a case where they've allowed a Mexican citizen to be extradited back to face the death penalty," Davidson County Deputy District Attorney General Tom Thurman said.

"It's my understanding that won't happen and that we will have to assure the Mexican authorities we won't seek the death penalty prior to them allowing them to be extradited back to the United States."

The boy's father, Jose Luis Cisneros, who lives in Houston, Texas, welcomed the arrests.

"I am very happy," Cisneros said in a telephone interview yesterday. "I want (Martha Patlan) to go to jail."

Three years ago, the investigation into Luis' death highlighted problems with communication between the Metro Police Department and Nashville's Hispanic community.

Days before Luis' body was found, one of Patlan's relatives called police to report that the couple came by her workplace asking for money to take the boy to the hospital.

Luis appeared sick in the couple's van, the relative said, and the boy and his sister, Mariana, who was 8 then, appeared to be "in a state of shock."

Officers waited until the following day to visit the Charlotte Pike apartment shared by Patlan and Dorantes. Metro Youth Services detectives found it abandoned.

Luis had ointment and bandages on scald marks when his body was discovered, police said. The autopsy found he had infected burns below the waist and internal injuries consistent with blunt trauma.

The officers who responded to the initial report of the sick-looking child could not speak Spanish and some department officials said at the time that crucial leads might have been lost and time wasted because of the communication gap.

Hispanic or bilingual officers might have asked more in-depth questions and pushed harder to investigate the case immediately, spokesman Don Aaron said at the time.

Dorantes is believed to have fled to Mexico almost immediately and worked transporting illegal immigrants across the U.S.-Mexico border.
"There is some question about whether Patlan has been back and forth, but nothing has been confirmed," Metro Detective Brad Corcoran said yesterday.

Investigators got a break in the case about 10 days ago, when someone from the local Hispanic community contacted Metro Youth Services Detective Sarah Bruner and reported that Patlan was in Mexico and willing to talk.

Investigators refused to identify the person who contacted police.

"I just don't think it would be appropriate at this time," Bruner said yesterday.

Investigators met Patlan in Mexico where she had been living with Mariana, now 11. Patlan was taken into custody in the town of Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Mexico, and agreed to cooperate with the investigation.

Mariana is safe and living with relatives in Mexico, authorities said yesterday.

FBI agents in Mexico City then traced Dorantes to Tijuana, Mexico, where he had been living with his 4-year-old son, who authorities say was born in Nashville and is a U.S. citizen.

Dorantes was arrested Saturday and his son was taken into custody by the U.S. consulate in Tijuana.

Dorantes and Patlan were indicted here on first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse charges.
http://www.fairviewobserver.com/apps/pb ... 321/MTCN06

I feel so sorry for that child. How can these 'parents' live with themselves knowing what they have done? Only uncivilized monsters would beat, batter, burn, and then dump a child off in a field or desert somewhere. I hope they get what they deserve.

Fugitive on FBI most wanted list seized

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/27/fugiti ... index.html

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) -- A fugitive on the FBI's 10 most wanted list has been arrested in Mexico on homicide charges more than three years after his girlfriend's son died of child abuse, authorities said.

Genero Espinosa Dorantes, 35, was taken into custody Saturday in the border city of Tijuana in Baja California, Mexico, FBI and Nashville police said at a news conference. He had been on the most wanted list since August 14, 2003.

The child's mother, Martha Patlan, agreed to cooperate with police and was taken into custody February 20 in Dolores Hidalgo, Mexico.

The two have been sought on criminal homicide charges since the body of her son, 4-year-old Luis Osvaldo Cisneros, was found dumped in a Nashville park on February 23, 2003.

The child's autopsy showed he suffered from battered child syndrome, was scalded, suffered infected burns from the waist down and had internal head injuries.

Nashville police detective Brad Corcoran said Monday the two have been in Mexico since the investigation started in 2003. He said they believe the two were together most of the time but had separated a few weeks before the arrests.

Corcoran said that although Patlan cooperated with police, she is still facing charges with Dorantes of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.

The two suspects are now awaiting extradition proceedings in Mexico, authorities said.

When the couple fled Nashville, an alert was issued because it was believed that they had two children with them -- Luis' older sister, Mariana Cisneros, and his younger half brother, Edgar A. Espinosa.

Both children, now ages 11 and 4, were found in Mexico and are being cared for by others, officials said.

Corcoran said he believed Dorantes was smuggling illegal immigrants into Tennessee at the time of the murder.

JohnB, thanks for posting the update.
Our elected officals allowed these scum-bags to roam freely in and out of our border. This is just the beginning of what we can expect from 3rd world countries. Not all, but MANY people coming from these countries are mentally deranged and lawless. I wouldnt even trust them picking fruit without thinking they were soiling on them. Again, and I'll repeat it forever, IF THEY ARE GOING TO BREAK THE LAW BY ENTERRING THE COUNTRY ILLEGALLY, WHAT OTHER LAWS WILL THEY BREAK?