A YOUNG couple has been arrested after their one-month-old twin girls were found dead in their Texas home with horror injuries.
Police believe the infant daughters of Angelina Belinda Calderon and Fernando Vega, both 21, suffered multiple beatings at the hands of their parents before dying last October.
On October 4, Houston resident Vega called 911 for help and told the operator that his daughters, identified as little Massail and Mirena by relatives, were unconscious.
The father said he found them in their crib not breathing, and he was instructed over the phone to perform CPR, according to court documents seen by ABC affiliate KTRK.
Bu the time patrolling officers got to the home, the little girls were dead.
Vega told police in an interview that the girls had been fussy the night before, so he put them down in a bassinet for a nap, according to the docs.
The next morning Calderon saw the girls in the same spot on her way to work but didn’t want to bother them because she thought they were sleeping, she told officials.
Vega told cops that he took Calderon to work, and saw the babies weren’t breathing when he got home.
However, suspicious over the couple grew once detectives noticed the horror state the infants were in at the time of their deaths.
Police said the babies’ skin was visibly discolored from bruising and that one child had multiple fractures.
After an autopsy was performed, the medical examiner concluded the injuries were from blunt objects.
One of the babies had partially healed fractures, which led investigators to believe they suffered multiple beatings throughout their short lives.
Some of the injuries were weeks old, and the babies were malnourished with one showing signs of brain bleeding.
The examiner concluded they had died from blunt force trauma.
What charges are Vega and Calderon facing?
On Friday, Vega and Calderon were arrested and are being held on a $700,000 bond.
Both parents have been charged with serious injury to a child.
The charges stem from the death of their month-old twin girls Massail and Mirena.
The girls were found dead in their home on October 4.
Police said the infants suffered heartless beatings that left them with fractures and bruises.
Harris County Assistant District Attorney Eddie Appelbaum said the parents could face more serious charges at a hearing on Monday.
According to Appelbaum, they could face up to 99 years or life in prison.
SHOCK ARREST
On Friday, Vega and Calderon were arrested and are being held on a $700,000 bond.
The parents didn’t take their children to the doctor for any check-ups after the babies were first released from the hospital, an arrest affidavit states.
Vega told cops the girls had been sick, but there was no evidence the parents sought medical care, according to police.
Since their arrest, Calderon’s family has tried to push the blame on Vega.
“She’s one of the best mothers that I know,” Calderon’s sister told KTRK.
“I don’t know what he did to them.”
Vega was arrested once for restraining Calderon, according to court documents seen by the outlet, and her family claims he was abusive.
However, both parents have been charged with injury to a child, and they could face more serious charges, according to prosecutors.
“The law requires parents to basically do certain things for children: provide food, shelter, medical care, protection, things like that. And there was an omission on that as well,” Harris County Assistant District Attorney Eddie Appelbaum said at a hearing Monday.
“These two children were about six weeks old and appeared to suffer blunt force injuries, severely malnourished and old and new injuries on the children.”
Appelbaum described the condition of the infants as “alarming.”
Calderon’s bond hearing is scheduled for Friday, and Vega’s is scheduled for May 29, according to NBC affiliate KPRC.
According to Appelbaum, they could face up to 99 years or life in prison.