Parents Charged with Neglect, Murder of Two-Year-Old Son

Wheaton parents of a two-year-old boy who died from dehydration and a lack of medical care for injuries suffered in the home have been charged in the child’s murder, police say.

Montgomery County Police on Thursday arrested Jonathan Navarrete-Turcious, 30, and Blanca Rosa Reyes, 24, both of the 11800 block of Charles Road in Wheaton, for the murder and child abuse of their son.

Two-year-old Matthew Navarrete-Reyes died Feb. 13 at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring. Blanca Reyes, Matthew’s mother, told detectives that she found her son moaning and unable to support himself in his crib that morning, so the couple brought him to the hospital.

Police say Matthew had suffered multiple traumas in the weeks before his death, which the parents attributed to several falls he had in the home. They did not seek medical treatment for the boy, officers say.

Reyes told detectives that she struck Matthew in the mouth as a punishment about four or five days before his death.

On June 11, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Matthew’s death a homicide and the cause of death was determined to be dehydration with oral trauma and pneumonia. The Medical Examiner noted that the prolonged lack of reasonable medical care to address a serious injury and the severity of the dehydration was evidence of neglect.

Three other male children, ages 3, 4 and 5 at the time of this incident, were removed from the home and placed into the custody of Child Protective Services.

Navarrete-Turcious and Reyes were arrested on Aug. 13 and charged with second-degree murder, neglect of a minor, and two counts of child abuse.

Bond information for Navarrete-Turcious and Reyes is not available at this time.

»Photo of Jonathan Navarrete-Turcious and Blanca Rosa Reyes courtesy of Montgomery County Police