Esmeralda Guzman, 1 [Update]

July 26, 2010, 9:44 a.m.

Esmeralda Guzman, a 1-year-old Latina, died Thursday, July 22, two months after she almost drowned in the 14000 block of Valerio Street in Van Nuys, according to Los Angeles County coroner's records.

According to preliminary information provided by the coroner's office, Esmeralda died of complications from a near-drowning in a bathtub on her birthday, which was May 8.

The official cause of death was listed as swelling in the brain due to drowning, according to coroner's officials, who confirmed that the case has been classified as a homicide.

The Times is requesting more information from investigators about the incident and will post an update as soon as details become available.

[Updated Aug. 29, 2012: Abused Child Unit Lt. Craig Herron said Esmeralda's mother, Jennifer Enriquez, was charged and convicted of murder in connection with the child's death.

Enriquez took a plea bargain and was sentenced to 13 years and three months in prison, Herron said.

No one else was charged with Esmeralda's death. ]

Anyone with additional information about the passing of Esmeralda Guzman is asked to contact Lt. Herron at (213) 486-0570.

— Sarah Ardalani

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12 reader comments

[continued]

This happened more than ten years ago so I do not recall what was going on at the time that caused us both such temporary carelessness. I wish to note, though, that had things occurred differently, our son could have stepped into the street and been killed by a vehicle, he could have wandered away and become lost, he could conceivably been kidnapped. Thank God none of these things happened and this event became little more than an embarrassment and also a huge wake up call. Mind you, too, that I'm not saying we had any inordinate need for such a wake up call; nothing like this had ever happened before this event and nothing like it ever happened again.. for the most part, I feel proud and justified in stating that we have been pretty good parents, and YET, had the nightmare scenario taken place that day, it would probably have become a news item, and like the mother here, we'd have been seen by most as a heartlessly negligent couple which had allowed the unnecessary death of its child to occur, BUT, as I've noted, this would have been an unfair and inaccurate judgment.

Now again, I'm not aiming to be an automatic apologist for Esmerelda's caretakers-- but I am saying two things: ONE, we don't yet know the facts surrounding this tragedy apart from its result; and TWO, even if we do eventually learn that her caretakers were criminally negligent, and even if their negligence was the result of immaturity, drug use, general irresponsibility, or any such inexcusable conduct or character flaw, there is almost certainly a healthy dose of wisdom in our restraining our urge to condemn the caregivers too quickly or too harshly, and to inflate our sense of the superiority of our own parenting by too much-- for barring the presence of the monstrous cruelty a small number of parents perpetrate on their children intentionally, the odds are great that the self imposed punishment the caretaker will pronounce on his or herself will far exceed the kinds of punishment our justice system can impose-- clearly, this would be true in the lives of most parents who might inadvertently fail to protect their child from such a tragic and untimely death.

I'm not asserting a belief that the the caretaker should escape all criminal punishment, just that the facts will have to determine the eventual judgment. For IF the investigation reveals this was probably a tragic accident that ended badly in a way my wife's and my error didn't, then it seems highly probable to me that a criminal sanctions might amount to cruel and unnecessary overkill which we should never impose gratuitously, especially in a case as sad as this one.

— Dmerrin10000 Aug. 1, 2010 at 1:09 a.m.

I am in cautious agreement with CitizenJohn that we must take care not to allow an aversion to making judgments lead us to excusing what may have been a criminal abandonment of the caretaker's duty to keep very young children safe. Where an investigation can show that negligence was the prime cause of such a tragedy, there must be meaningful consequences, BUT... I still think it's advisable for us to be very slow and circumspect in determining the facts and the proper punishments for cases like this. As a parent of two children, I admit I also find it hard to imagine a scenario in which I would ever leave an infant alone in a bathtub or airtight car on a summer day, but even so, I just as swiftly recall a day when our son was about two years old, and, while living in an apartment in L.A., neither my wife nor I noticed when he slipped out our apartment door and made his way down the stairs to the ground floor, then somehow got himself out of the gate and to the sidewalk before a neighbor found him and returned him to us. [continued]

— dmerrin10000 Aug. 1, 2010 at 12:53 a.m.

The Homicide Report

Esmeralda Guzman, 1 [Update]

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