Remembering Baby Brianna

When a child is born; most parents look down upon their creation with a sense of warmth, a smile upon their face and love in their heart. As their infant begins to grow most parents are left with a sense of accomplishment knowing that they've done their best to raise their children. For some children however, they're robbed of these opportunities, to grow, learn, feel and live in a world filled with love. Imagine, watching your own child being thrown around the house, being violently raped by her father, her uncle and as a mother doing absolutely nothing about it. Imagine the fear, the anxiety, the hopelessness that poor infant felt as the people that were supposed to love and protect her were the ones that took her life before it had a chance to begin.

The Background of the Case

On July 19, 2002 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, 19-year old Stephanie Lopez, 19-year-old Steven Lopez, and 21-year-old Andrew Walters started their morning out like they did every day. Mommy dearest, questioned the two gentlemen about the bruises on her daughter, but said nothing when they claimed they were just a little rough on the child the night before. Stephanie admits that she ignored the child's injuries and that she did not hear the child screaming the night before as she was asleep after consuming a few beers. That same morning baby Brianna needed a diaper change which gave the child's father the opportunity to sexually assault the child by wrapping his finger with a diaper wipe and inserting it into the child's anus before sodomizing her with foreign objects.

Upon seeing the child near death, mother of the year decided that she would wait a few hours before calling for help. When help was finally called, Lopez claimed her daughter fell out of her high chair, thinking that someone would actually believe that ridiculous story. At about 11:00 pm the night of the 19th, baby Brianna was pronounced dead at the hospital, she was only 5-months old.

Baby Brianna Was Tortured

Baby Brianna suffered a horribly painful death as authorities realized quickly that the baby had been abused on several occasions. The autopsy report concluded Brianna had suffered a laundry list of injuries, including 11 human bite marks which were noted to be in various different stages of healing. Brianna suffered from bruises, multiple rib fractures, three skull fractures, signs of shaken baby syndrome which included swelling of the brain. The injuries failed to stop there however, it is reported that the young child suffered from fractures to both legs as well which is consistent with jerking the child when she was being picked up.

Through various reports and confessions by family members, it seems that everyone was involved in the biting and pinching of this innocent child. The uncle of the baby admitted to throwing the child in the air, watching her hit her head off of the ceiling before watching her fall to the ground in agony, while mommy slept in the other room, sleeping off the beer she drank that night. Andrew Walters admitted that he fell asleep shortly after midnight, unaware of where baby Brianna was until he awoke at 3 in the morning and found her on the floor near the bed. Walters then claimed he picked the child up, wrapped her in a blanket and placed her in her bouncer, but says the baby was conscious and crying.

The Outcome

Baby Brianna was a gorgeous 5 month old baby who was born into a life of sheer and utter chaos. Born to a mother that showed very little interest in the well being and the care of the child, she recruited the help of her twin brother and her child's father to commit one of the most horrendous crimes imaginable. This case marks one of the most outlandish cases of child abuse I have ever covered in my writing career, almost making me physically ill as I read each new development in the case. Nothing made me more sick to my stomach than reading the outcome of this case in black and white across my computer screen.

Baby Brianna's own mother, the woman who carried her in her womb for 9 months, the woman who gave birth to her, was supposed to love her, take care of her, was handed down a 27 year sentence for standing back and doing nothing while her infant was tortured and sexually assaulted by her own family members. Mommy's twin brother was given 51 years in prison for his role in the death of his niece, while baby Brianna's father received 57 years. Lopez, her twin brother and the baby's father were not the only one's involved in this case, for the baby's own grandmother and second uncle received 60 days in jail for their role in the case. six people lived in that house with baby Brianna and yet not one of them took the time to protect her from the painful and horrible death she suffered by the hands of the people in her life that were supposed to be there to love and protect her.

An Update

Stephanie Lopez received a 27 year prison sentence for standing back and doing nothing while her twin brother and her child's father beat and sexually assaulted her daughter, which ultimately led to the death of her 5 month old daughter Brianna, more commonly called baby Brianna in 2002. Controversy and petitions have been started all over the internet asking for the immediate revocation of Stephanie Lopez's parole, which she will become eligible for in 2016, after serving a little over a decade of her 27 year sentence, while her counterparts remain locked behind bars for another decade to come. The question remains, should mommy of the year be let out on parole after standing back, and doing nothing to protect the innocent life she brought into this world? Did Stephanie Lopez have more to do with the death of her innocent child than she led on? Was the sentence she was given in the end way to light for the type of death her child suffered? These are the questions I would like each of my readers to answer, and when you do I hope you answer them with an open mind, a heavy heart and remove all the hatred from your voice, for little Brianna has suffered enough.