Sister charged in "Mortal Kombat" death of 7-year-old

[cali]

Sister and boyfriend charged in death of Johnstown girl
By Mike McPhee
The Denver Post
Article Last Updated: 12/20/2007 01:25:26 PM MST


2 charged in 7-year-old's death were re-enacting 'Mortal Kombat'Johnstown - A quiet, working-class neighborhood in this small town 40 miles north of Denver quickly became distraught over the news of the death of a popular 7-year-old girl, who allegedly died from abuse by her older sister and her boyfriend.

Zoe Garcia, who was described as "a beautiful little girl", died on Dec. 6 from "blunt force trauma" to her brain and central nervous system, according to the Weld County Coroner. Her right wrist was broken, her body had more than 20 bruises, her neck muscles were bleeding and a skin flap near her tongue had been torn.

Zoe's older sister, Heather Trujillo, 16, and her boyfriend, Lamar Roberts, 17, of Westminster, were arrested Tuesday and charged with child abuse resulting in death, a Class

Extras
Read the arrest affadavits for Lamar Roberts and Heather Trujillo (13 pages, PDF)
II felony. They are in custody, each being held on $100,000 bond.
According to the arrest affidavits, Trujillo told investigators she and Roberts were babysitting Zoe and her twin, 3-year-old sisters, while their mother worked at the Corral Bar about five blocks away.

Trujillo said they were acting out the video game "Mortal Combat" by savagely hitting and kicking Zoe, even dropping her on her side, which broke her wrist. Roberts, who claimed to be a martial-arts expert with his hands registered as "lethal weapons, said Zoe had asked him to stop hitting her but that he didn't because "...I was drunk."


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http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_7760927

[ixion]

1. what the hell is wrong with people?

that's all I have to say. :crazy:

[LeftishBrit]

2. Poor little thing...

that is so hearbreaking.

What makes people do such evil things?

[taterguy]

3. I'd label it "Drunk Stupid Vicious" death

But I guess blaming a video game makes better copy

[cali]

6. I don't think it really has anything

to do with video games, but the defendants are using it as an excuse so it's understandable that the press picked up on it.

[boricua79]

4. what a freaking moron

How do you breka someone's wrist and continue at it....

Savage ass...throw the book at him for being a moron!

[Echo In Light]

5. Sugar n spice n all that's nice...and other fairytales. Ugh

Corporate "values" ensure soulless automatons. You can't wake the dead when they're already alive man...

[TheWatcher]

7. This is almost beyond words.

How could anyone do this to a little girl?

These two idiots sound like mindless Zombies. No concept of right and wrong. To hear their side of it, this was a normal, logical way to behave.

This is beyond the pale. I just can't think of any words right now.

What IS Wrong With People?

[malaise]

8. I don't buy the Mortal Kombat bullshit

Sixteen years olds know what hurts and what doesn't. I had a nephew who used to pinch his little brother when one was six and the other three.
His mum and dad just told him to stop but that didn't work. Mind you the little brother was hardly a saint, as he played the parents very well.
Well they came to spend two weeks with me and every time one pinched the other, I pinched the aggressor and asked if it hurt. In less than three days, that was the end of that rubbish.

You know when you're inflicting pain on others.

[FloridaJudy]

9. Jeez, I grew up watching Road Runner cartoons

At the Saturday matinées, and I never had the compulsion to drop anvils on people. This wasn't the fault of a video game, but of a drunk and vicious pair of jerks. By sixteen one should be old enough to distinguish fantasy from reality.

What a tragedy.

[Toots]

10. Aww come on he was drunk... It should be no different than a drunk driving offense

Cars in the hands of drunks are lethal weapons as (supposedly) this fellows hands were. If America shrugs at drunk driving, why shouldn't it shrug at drunk babysitting? :shrug: