UPDATE: North Carolina couple arrested in El Paso County on murder charges
A North Carolina couple are scheduled to appear before an El Paso County judge Friday, after being on the run for allegedly killing an 18-month old girl.
Vanessa Sanchez, 20, and her fiance, 21-year-old Andrew Tyler Tomczak, are facing first-degree murder and child abuse inflicting serious injury charges in the death of 18-month-old Violet Cortez.
Violet was Sanchez’s daughter.
According to a 911 phone call in January, Sanchez found her daughter unresponsive in the home she shared with her fiance in North Carolina.
“My daughter. We came in here to check on her. We found her on the floor and she doesn’t look like she is breathing,” said Sanchez in the call.
Sanchez was questioned by police in North Carolina and released. However, an autopsy report just releasedshowed the baby died of a head injury due to multiple blunt force impacts. She suffered from severe bleeding, and the report also indicates the baby’s private parts were cut and bruised.
An arrest warrant was issued and deputies eventually arrested the couple in the 4000 block of Loomis Avenue in the Stratmoor Hills area in El Paso County.
Craig Barron had rented the couple a room for two months. He said Sanchez showed him pictures of Violet and told him the 18-month-old died in Texas.
Barron said he even took Sanchez to a group counseling session for parents who lost children.
“I am thinking that probably her guilty conscience caught up with her,” said Barron.
Barron said he never suspected the two were fugitives on the run. But he said looking back, there were subtle signs. He said Tomczak was nervous around police.
“I think he had a feeling that this was going to catch up with him. I am a firm believer in karma. What goes around comes around. You think you can run to another state but it’s going to catch up to you, especially a murder rap,” said Barron.
Barron was home when police knocked on the door. He said Tomczak told him not to open it, but he did. He said deputies were surrounding the apartment with their guns drawn. He was shocked to find out the two were taken into custody and accused of killing Violet.
Violet’s dad and his family live in Texas. Her aunt Alcelyn Cortez said the family wants justice for Violet’s death.
“We have been waiting very impatiently I guess to get this report and now we are waiting for charges to be pressed so Vanessa and Andrew can pay for what they have done to our family,” said Cortez.
The couple are scheduled to be advised by a judge at 1:30 p.m. at the El Paso County Criminal Justice center. During the advisement, the judge is expected to discuss plans to extradite the couple to North Carolina.
