Marcella Montelongo, Albuquerque, New Mexico mother struggling with addiction accused of starving her 5 year old special needs son to death as questions are raised why the mom was able to retain child custody despite ongoing red flags.
### Update: The Metropolitan Detention Center says 23-year-old Marcella Montelongo died at the facility on Thursday. Officials say MDC and University of New Mexico Hospital medical teams responded but were unable to save her life. Cause of death remained unknown at present, KRQE reported.
A New Mexico mother struggling with addiction and accused of deliberately hiding the ongoing demise of her son stands accused of causing her 5 year old special needs son to starve to death.
Marcella Vasquez Montelongo, 23, appeared before a judge Wednesday for a detention hearing, on a charge of child abuse resulting in death, some months after her February arrest following her son’s alleged starvation death in July of 2023.
The special needs boy who was blind and had cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and other disabilities was found unresponsive on July 25 at his mom’s Albuquerque home.
Despite efforts to revive the boy, the 5 year old would die. A final autopsy in October determining the child having died of starvation and dehydration, and that the manner of death was a homicide according to USA Today.
At the time of the boy’s death, the special needs boy weighed a mere 13 pounds.
As part of the boy’s caring needs, Montelongo was to feed her son via G-tube three times a day. On the day of the boy’s death, the mother claimed having just fed the 5 year old, but a relative said the boy threw up and stopped breathing when they went to suction, according to KOAT.
A family member alleged that Montelongo was using drugs and not feeding her son his required formula. The autopsy report noted that the boy had 0 percent body fat and weighed 13.6 pounds.
According to investigators, Montelongo missed five of her son’s doctor’s appointments since December 2022 and she noticed her son’s weight loss but did not think it was a concern.
Leading up to the special needs boy’s death, Montelongo’s son had been the subject of at least four reports to Child Protective Services.
According to KOAT, a source said in September 2022 that a doctor assessed the boy in May 2022 and noted he was pale and barely moving. The doctor also told Montelongo to take him to urgent care, noting his weight dropped from 26 to 20 pounds.
Montelongo was also accused of failing to take her son to physical therapy after it was discovered that he had a dislocated hip during an August 2022 visit to a cerebral palsy clinic.
The child was enrolled at he New Mexico School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, records provided to investigators showed that he only reported for one day of school in September 2022 and never showed up again.
‘This defendant made efforts to hide the abuse and this child’s demise from medical providers and from the school, going as far as withdrawing him from the school,’ Judge David Murphy said on Wednesday, according to KOAT.
In the months following the boy’s death, questions have been raised as to how Montelongo was able to retain custody of the child despite ongoing demonstrated instances of the mother being unable to carry out parental duties.
‘We had medical providers, educational providers, service providers and family members raising flags,’ Maralyn Beck, founder and executive director of the nonprofit New Mexico Child Network told KOAT-TV. ‘Yet here we are.’
The mom who is struggling with addiction was ordered to complete an an in-custody addiction treatment program before she would be deemed eligible to file a motion for release prior to the commencement of trial.
