Accused ‘Doomsday’ parents charged in death and abuse of their own baby in Crowley County
CROWLEY COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- Parents of a baby who died in 2021 face multiple charges following an outcry from their surviving children. Court documents detail allegations of extreme abuse and neglect that left their children to go hungry - with some resorting to eating their own feces.
The investigation into Jason Soltani, Joy Saltani, and Sierra Soltani began after emergency crews responded to an Ordway home on August 8, 2021, on reports of a dead baby.
According to court documents obtained by KRDO, just before Crowley County Sheriff Reeves arrived, a voice presumed to be Jason could be heard asking during the 911 call "Has anyone laid eyes on [redacted] today?"
CPR was initiated at the scene and the baby was taken to the Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center in La Junta via ambulance. The parents, identified as Jason and Joy, left by private vehicle and followed the ambulance to La Junta.
Court documents report there wasn't a birth certificate for the dead baby and Joy reported two different birthdays to a doctor. It was noted the parents were "uncooperative and would not speak to Sheriff Reeves on scene."
Once at AVRMC, the baby was pronounced dead. The Crowley County Coroner responded to the hospital and noted the baby was "filthy, with dirt on feet, fingernails, and scalp with 'a lot of wax build-up in ears.'"
According to court documents, the baby had never walked and their feet "were so filthy that an unnamed nurse at AVRMC felt there may be some type of disease causing the feet to be so black and began washing them." This was evidenced by the coroner's photos. Once washed, the baby's foot appeared to be "that of a white child" and the unwashed foot was "very dark and filthy."
The affidavit states initially, the baby's parents wouldn't accept their child was dead and claimed: "They were going to pray and have [redacted] resurrected and initially refused to give custody of the child to the coroner for autopsy."
An autopsy performed on Aug. 8, 2021, by Allison Cooper MD in El Paso County noted there was no food content in the baby's stomach, no urine in the baby's bladder, and the baby was only in 25% of the normal growth rate for a child of that age. The child's specific age was redacted in the court documents.
According to the affidavit, the Forensic Pathologist found the baby's cause of death to be undetermined. However, the Forensic Pathologist ruled out numerous natural causes of death during court testimony.
The affidavit notes the baby had recently been below the 0% average height/weight according to the World Health Organization charts that were exhibited during a custody hearing.
'Filthy, unkempt' living conditions
While the baby was being taken to AVRMC, a search warrant was obtained for the Ordway residence. According to the affidavit, deputies knocked and announced themselves numerous times but no one would answer. Eventually, a deputy began breaching the door, and as he was breaking in, he heard a response. That's when then-18-year-old Saierra Soltani, a reported half-sister to the dead baby, opened the door.
Investigators found six additional children, whose ages ranged from eight to eight months, living inside a home that was described as a "hoarder house." A total of ten people lived there.
Per the Crowley County Assessor description noted in the affidavit, the house was built in 1918 and was a one-and-one-half-story single-family dwelling with 1,465 square feet of living space.
The affidavit states, "The house was filthy with trails to rooms, sticky floors, children sleeping on piles of dirty cloths and dirty car seats."
In interviews, the children later told investigators that some of them were forced to sleep and stay in the car seats.
Investigators noted they weren't able to identify where everyone slept or lived, and no one was able to identify where the dead baby was found or slept or who had last seen the baby alive.
An interview with the children noted in the affidavit states the body of their dead dog Doodles was kept in a box they used for a coffee table. This was photographed by the CBI.
It was noted again that the parents would not speak to law enforcement and they weren't present at the time of the search.
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation was called in to take pictures of the home.
The affidavit states six children found in the home were "filthy, unkept, and smelled of human feces." Deputies couldn't tell the gender of any of the children because they all had long, unclean, and unkept hair and clothing.
Investigators moved the children from the scene to River of Life church where they were fed and allowed to play. The affidavit notes "it appeared the children had not eaten lately."
Custody of the six children was turned over to the Department of Human Services due to their "poor condition, filthy unsafe house, and the unexplained death of the baby.
A cry for help
Nearly a year later, on Aug. 12, 2022, the Crowley County Sheriff's Office was contacted by the Crowley County Department of Human Services and a Guardian ad Litem to report Jason and Joy just had another child and that they needed to gain custody of the baby. In Colorado, a Guardian ad Litem is a court-appointed Child Representative
While heavily redacted, according to the affidavit, the wording of the court document indicates the Guardian ad Litem and DHS told the sheriff's office the remaining children were out crying to foster parents and therapists that the baby, whose death was still unexplained, had been found dead with a plastic bag covering them.
Due to the trauma of the death and then immediately being separated from their family and placed in foster care, DHS was worried the children wouldn't talk.
However, the affidavit, while heavily redacted, described that the birth of the new baby had caused the outcries. The living children did not want their new sibling to end up dead and wanted that baby taken from their parents.
On Oct. 29, 2022, a deputy responded to a civil disturbance between Jason and his mother Linda Sue Soltani. During that call, Linda stated she'd testify against Jason and Joy for the death of the baby. According to the affidavit, Linda claimed the couple "did not feed the baby and killed the baby." While being recorded on a body-worn camera, Linda described how Jason and Sierra had starved and abused the children.
With this new information, forensic interviews with the surviving children were set up and conducted on Nov. 3, 2022, at the Pueblo Child Advocacy Center.
During the interview, some of the children independently reported the baby died with a plastic bag over it.
On Dec. 15, 2022, a detective followed up the first forensic interview of the children with an interview of a foster mother in Colorado Springs.
The affidavit is written as follows: "[Redacted] reported that the [redacted] had not only been reporting how the death of Baby [redacted] had occurred, but severe child abuse that she had already reported to DHS. We had not received any reports of child abuse at this point and scheduled a second Forensic Interview of the [redacted.]"
On Feb. 8, 2023, a second recorded interview happened at the Child Advocacy Center in Pueblo. During that time, one of the children clarified and confirmed two of their siblings were kept in their car seats throughout the day and another was restrained to a playpen. One child didn't have a bed or bedroom and was forced to sleep on dirty laundry in the laundry room because he wet the bed. The remaining children slept in a single bed together.
According to the affidavit, the interviews made it clear that Jason "was very physically abusive and struck the children with his hands and a belt leaving bruising on the children's bodies and faces. It was also clear and confirmed that Joy and Siera Soltani neglected and starved and physically hit the children but not to the same extent as Jason Soltani."
The affidavit notes the children were "always starving and ate nonfood products including human waste, paint, paper, and cardboard.
The first child interviewed provided statements that collaborated with other claims received from the foster parents, Guardian ad Litem, grandmother, and DHS. When speaking about her siblings, the affidavit states she'd say "sister," "brother" or "baby" before their name.
The affidavit states this child said, "Mommy did not hit us that often but Daddy did." She stated that "Daddy hit us a lot" and that it was "Horrible."
She went on to say they weren't allowed out of their rooms, never played, and weren't allowed outside. They ate one or two meals a day consisting of Ramen or cereal. All the children had to eat out of one bowl on the floor. According to the interview, the children would also eat paint, paper, and cardboard. Two of her siblings ate feces because they were "probably" hungry."
The affidavit states the child said, "We were always so hungry."
According to the child, Joy and Jason stocked up on food and water "because they thought the world was going to end." but they weren't allowed to eat that food.
She told investigators the children could only bathe once a week. However, the affidavit notes the house didn't have any running water.
Her school-aged siblings were reportedly homeschooled by Joy and the others weren't allowed out of their rooms when this happened.
The child said she was "scared Mommy would die" when Joy and Jason would fight.
The second child interviewed, described as Baby [redacted], displayed a trauma response while being interviewed. The affidavit notes the child would become "very wild" and throw things but eventually calm down and hug a DHS employee. However, the child would have outbursts vocally and not speak. Eventually, he did calm down but on certain topics, he'd go into a fetal position or positions of avoidance to not communicate with the interviewer.
When asked about the Ordway house, the young boy responded with a long drawn-out "Noooo" and retreated to the floor.
The investigator noted in the affidavit, "In over 20 years of military services and over 20 years of law enforcement I have observed many people reacting to Post Traumatic events and the actions of [redacted] in the interview room mirrored many of the responded I have witnessed."
The third child collaborated with other claims, including having to eat off the floor, her younger siblings eating their feces, and being trapped in car seats day and night. She also told investigators that her parents thought the world was going to end.
She described a punishment of having hot sauce and pepper placed in her mouth and that she was forced to stand in the corner until her legs hurt. The affidavit states she described "being struck across the face with an open hand too many times to count."
The child described their dead dog being used as a coffee table, she stated, "I don't know why they put him in there and just kept him."
According to the affidavit, one of the six children was the one who found the baby dead. That child was described as being "very articulate" and demonstrated how the baby looked when found. The child said she found the baby "with only its arms and legs sticking out from under a plastic bag partially filled with cloths on a waterbed where it slept."
It was noted the CBI had taken pictures during the search of the waterbed with items and plastic bags on it.
The affidavit states during the first forensic interview in November, one of the children said Joy asked her to get the baby off the waterbed because Joy wanted to feed the baby. That's when the baby was discovered. In that first interview, the description of the child was similar to the second interview.
The child in the first interview said she checked the baby's chest to see if its heart was beating and it wasn't. She then placed her hand on the baby's stomach to see if it was breathing, and it wasn't. that's when she told her mother something was wrong. Joy directed the child to bring her the dead baby.
Once with Joy, the child said her mother told Jason the baby's condition and at some point, someone contacted the police.
The child described the baby as looking "pale" with arms and legs sticking out from under the plastic bag and the baby's eyes were closed.
Another child interviewed on how the baby was found told investigators that Joy and Jason wanted twelve children. As of May, the couple has seven living children with one on the way.
The Forensic Examiner was requested to reexamine the case with the new evidence found during the interviews. She did, but could not find reason to change it from "undetermined cause of death."
The affidavit noted the details of how the baby died and details of the child abuse given since August 2022 by the children had not changed or deviated.
What neighbors saw
After the second forensic interview with the children, investigators began speaking to the Soltani's neighbors.
According to the affidavit, one neighbor stated they'd never seen the children playing outside and had only seen two children, ages five and ten, going to the car or coming from the car to the house. This neighbor said he'd had "problems" with Jason for years.
One neighbor stated Jason threatened to kill them when they bought property and had it surveyed.
A former neighbor told investigators that Joy was pregnant the entire seven years she had lived there and only seen the children "a handful of times" but never more than three at a time.
She and one other neighbor stated at one point a disabled adult had lived in the house. The former neighbor told investigators the couple would "park" her out front in a wheelchair "and let her bake in the sun all day and never check on her."
The affidavit ends by noting that Jason and Joy are flight risks, referencing August 2022 when they reportedly fled the state to New Mexico to deter Colorado, Crowley County, and the Department of Human Services from taking custody of their newborn baby.
At the time of writing the affidavit, it's noted that Joy is currently pregnant with her ninth child. It's believed she'll try to flee once again to avoid this child being taken by DHS.
The affidavit states there was fear that the Soltanis knew they were being investigated and would try and escape to another state and fight extradition.
It was recommended by the affidavit that Jason, Joy, and Sierra have bond conditions that would not allow them to leave the state until the completion of this case.
Joy and Jason face the charges of Child Abuse Resulting in Death, Manslaughter, Criminally Negligent Homicide, and seven counts of child abuse.
According to court documents, Joy and Jason both posted $50,000 bonds and were released.
At this time, there aren't court documents to indicate that Sierra has been arrested. However, the arrest affidavits for Joy and Jason indicate there was a request for a warrant for the arrest of Sierra.
