A New Mexico couple was arrested this week and charged in the death of their 1-year-old son last year.
The Clovis Police Department said that Calian Skywater was taken to Plains Regional Medical Center on November 27, when he was pronounced dead. Detectives were called to hospital and noted that the child had “extensive bruises” to the head, face, and arms.
The boy’s mother, 22-year-old Donna Phillips, “stated that Calian’s injuries resulted from rough play with a sibling, and a fall from a high chair.”
An autopsy later found that the boy had bruising over 70 to 80 percent of his body and trauma to the head. A final report was issued in April noted “major blunt force trauma” to the head but logged cause of death as “undetermined.”
Detectives forwarded the case to a doctor who specializes in child abuse pediatrics, and a final report from that doctor, received on September 8, said that the boy’s injuries “did not correspond with the statements provided by his parents.”
“The doctor communicated that their ‘totality of the findings present are diagnostic of fatal physical abuse inflicted upon Calian,’” police said.
Police secured a warrant for the arrests of Phillips and Onesimus Skywater, 33, charging them with intentional abuse of a child resulting in the child’s death. They are being held without bond at the Curry County Detention Center, jail records say.
Their other children have been placed with a foster family.
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[Featured image: Onesimus Skywater and Donna Phillips/Clovis Police Department]
