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January 19, 2005
Family, Friends Say Goodbye To Suspected Child Abuse Victim
January 19, 2005 San Antonio
About 100 people packed a Catholic church Tuesday on the Southeast Side to pay their last respects to a 1-year-old girl who police say died suspiciously.
Four girls carried a 3-foot-long casket bearing the body of 1-year-old Clarissa Ramos into St. Margaret Mary's Catholic Church for a funeral mass.
"She was so cute," said Roxanne, the baby's cousin. "She was always so happy. She was barely learning how to walk and talk. She was really, really beautiful."
Many people at the funeral had a hard time understanding why Clarissa died the way she did.
The Bexar County Medical Examiner's Office ruled her death a homicide and the San Antonio Police Department are investigating the case as a capital murder. No arrests have been made in the case.
The girl's mother, Sindy Riojas, told KSAT 12 News she went shopping and left Clarissa in the care of her boyfriend, Robert Hernandez, the day the baby was taken to a hospital. Hernandez claimed the baby, who died of massive head injuries and other injuries, fell from a playpen.
"I just can't understand those kind of people," said Aurora Adam, a family friend. "A child is a child, and we need to protect them and take care of them as much as we can."
Clarissa's 4-year-old sister is the custody of Child Protective Services while the case is investigated.
Posted by Nancy at January 19, 2005 10:03 AM