Posted on Wed, Feb. 13, 2008

By Alex Branch and Diane
SmithStar-Telegram staff writers

FORT WORTH -- The death of a Cleburne toddler last month was caused by cocaine intoxication and has been ruled a homicide, authorities said Tuesday.

But investigators have not determined how or where 14-month-old J.C. Luna ingested the cocaine and have made no arrests in the case, Cleburne police Sgt. Amy Knoll said.

Luna's mother, Adela Gallegos, took J.C. to the hospital Oct. 11 after the baby sitter called and told her that J.C. was having trouble breathing, Knoll said. Doctors found high levels of cocaine in J.C.'s body, and he spent several days on life support.

His condition improved, and he was released from the hospital and placed in foster care, police said. However, his health eventually worsened and he died Jan. 5 at a Burleson hospice.

Investigators searched Gallegos' and the baby sitter's homes Oct. 12 and "there was no evidence of any drugs or drug activity at either residence," Knoll said.

Gallegos, 23, and her husband, Mauricio Luna, 27, told the Star-Telegram on Tuesday that they have never used cocaine and have taken drug tests to prove it.

"We don't use drugs," Luna said. "We lost our son, and we don't know why."

Suddenly ill

Gallegos said she was living with relatives at their Cleburne home in October. Her husband was living outside North Texas at the time.

On Oct. 11, she took J.C. to the baby sitter's house a few doors down, so she could go to work at a clothing store. Gallegos said she had left J.C. with the woman three or four times. On that day, there were several other adults at the house.

J.C. seemed normal when Gallegos left him, Luna said.

"The night before he was smiling and playing like he always did," Luna said. "He went to bed at the same time and woke up. No one noticed anything different."

The baby sitter called Gallegos about 20 minutes later, Knoll said. The baby sitter also called 911, but Gallegos arrived before paramedics and drove her son to Walls Hospital in Cleburne.

Luna said he was later told that J.C. had been foaming at the mouth.

J.C. was flown to Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth, Knoll said. He was removed from life support Oct. 20 and released from the hospital Oct. 30.

While police investigated the case, J.C. was placed in foster care. Luna said he and his wife visited J.C. twice. J.C. had suffered brain damage and couldn't swallow food, and was being fed through a tube in his stomach.

Soon, his condition worsened, Luna said. He started throwing up a lot and went back to the hospital.

Doctors told Luna and Gallegos that nothing more could be done for J.C., Luna said. He was moved to a Burleson hospice.

"They said if it was a broken arm or a broken leg, they could fix him," Luna said. "But they couldn't fix his brain. We visited him all the time until he passed away."

Unanswered questions

Police are still investigating how J.C. could have ingested the cocaine, Knoll said. They don't know the amount because there is no way to know the drug's purity.

"It's an unusual case and certainly very tragic," Knoll said.

Meanwhile, Luna and Gallegos said that they're also trying to regain custody of their 3-year-old son, who was placed in foster care after authorities learned that J.C. had cocaine in his body.

Marissa Gonzales, a Child Protective Services spokeswoman, said that the older son is doing "fairly well" but that caseworkers are not ready to return him to his parents.

"We work off a different burden of proof" than police, she said. "We feel there are some issues within the family that need to be worked out. Specifically, we're concerned that no one has been able to tell for sure how the child ingested the cocaine."

Gallegos and Luna have since moved to an east Fort Worth apartment. On Tuesday, Luna and Gallegos flipped through a photo album that contained dozens of pictures of J.C. His picture also hangs on a wall, just above a candle.

"I just want justice for my baby and for my other son to be returned," Gallegos said. "My children were the best thing I had."

ALEX BRANCH, 817-390-7689 DIANE SMITH, 817-390-7675
abranch@star-telegram.com

http://www.star-telegram.com/crime_courts/story/470758.html

Emphasis added by H4K Editor