NATIONAL EXPERTS TO TESTIFY IN AREA MURDER CASESome national experts are being ined up a for an area murder case involving shaken baby syndrome.
By Erin L. Nissley
enissley@centredaily.com
Posted on Sat, Dec. 18, 2004
BELLEFONTE - A local defense lawyer has withdrawn from the case of a former Boalsburg man accused of killing his 3-month-old son in 2002. About 30 people filled the courtroom Friday for a brief hearing in the case of Alejandro Vargas Mendez, 30, charged with first- and third-degree murder in the death of his son, Lucas.
Officials have said that the child died as a result of shaken baby syndrome while being cared for by Mendez. The defendant's wife, Lisa Mullenax, said Friday that she continues to support her husband. "He is 100 percent innocent," she said. "All the medical evidence shows that."
Earlier this week, Mendez's attorney, Bruce Manchester, filed papers with the court asking to be allowed to withdraw as Mendez's counsel. Manchester wrote that he has been unable to work with Mullenax. Mendez, who is referred to incorrectly in court paperwork as Alejandro Mendez Vargas, was arrested in August 2003 after a yearlong investigation into the baby's death on Sept. 2, 2002.
Manchester has represented Mendez since his arrest. Manchester wrote in court papers that he has consulted with several experts in the field of shaken baby syndrome and cannot reveal the names of those experts to Mullenax. "She has continually thwarted counsel's need to keep these names confidential," Manchester wrote. "Further, she has convinced her spouse to direct petitioner to disclose these experts to her."
According to court records, Mendez was home with the baby on Aug. 27, 2002, and went to a neighbor's house with the child when it became apparent something was wrong. The neighbor, who testified at Mendez's preliminary hearing, said she started CPR and told Mendez to call 911. Police arrived and continued CPR. The baby was taken by helicopter to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville. He was pronounced dead Sept. 2, 2002.
An autopsy performed on the baby showed that the child died as a result of blunt-force trauma, which is consistent with shaken baby syndrome, according to earlier reports. In previous interviews, Manchester has called shaken baby syndrome "junk science" and has said authorities failed to explore other explanations for the baby's death.
Neither Mendez nor Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar objected to Manchester's withdrawal from the case, which was allowed by President Judge Charles C. Brown Jr. After the hearing, Mullenax said her husband will be filling out paperwork to request a public defender. She said she and her husband don't have the funds to hire another lawyer.
Addressing a group of supporters who came to the hearing, she expressed her satisfaction at Manchester's withdrawal. "We've spent 16 months with (Manchester), and absolutely nothing has been done," she said.
Mendez, currently in the Clinton County Prison, could face the death penalty if he is convicted.
[Return]nomorefakenews.com
JANUARY 9, 2004
Here is a case of two parents accused of killing their baby. Blunt force trauma. Pennsylvania. A crime case. The husband is in jail awaiting trial.
But is the situation what it seems? Or is it death caused by doctors? And if it is, then to what extremes will authorities go in covering up conditions which can kill other babies? Will they convict the parents of murder?
Did the coroner find everything he was supposed to during the baby’s autopsy? Did he misinterpret evidence?
Do we have here an instance in which "standard medical practice" kills?
In this case, another outside pathologist was called in to look over the complete records and medical-treatment procedures, and he came up with a completely different finding, one which exonerates the parents. This doctor found that, among other factors, VACCINES and ANTIBIOTICS played a significant role in the baby’s death.
I have included the first part of his analysis below.
It is worth your time to read it. To view his entire report, go to http://www.redflagsweekly.com/conferences/shaken_baby/aug22_Al_Bayati.html
To sign a petition for the release of the parents, go to the Free Mendez Petition.
[Return]Holes in the Justice System
December 5, 2003
Costa Rican tour guide Alejandro Méndez sits in a cell in Pennsylvania’s Clinton County Correctional Facility, possibly facing the death penalty, while Costa Rican handyman Eric Salazar is in the San José suburb of Alajuelita, doing what he pleases.
Méndez is accused of murdering his three-and-a-half-month-old son, Lucas. His wife says that never could have happened.
Salazar is accused of killing one-year-old Henry Schwank III, and the case against him is all but dead in the water.
It is striking that Méndez lived at home nearly a full year, with his wife, mourning the death of their child in Hartstown, Pa., before police arrested him on Aug. 11. Salazar, meanwhile, fled back to Costa Rica just days after Henry’s death. Is the lesson here that it’s better to run when accused of murder?
Bereaved mother Lisa Mullanax, Méndez’s wife, came to Costa Rica to plead with politicians to intervene in her husband’s case, backed by an expert’s medical opinion that suggests her husband could be innocent. But she was told nothing could be done from down here.
This makes sense; Costa Rica has no jurisdiction in Pennsylvania, and politicos have no business intervening in matters of justice, no matter where.
Bereaved grandmother Liana Tomé pleaded, meanwhile, that the New Orleans District Attorney’s Office help bring her grandson’s alleged killer back to the United States to stand trial. Nothing can be done from up there, she was told. This makes no sense at all.
The District Attorney in New Orleans seems to have forgotten Salazar entirely. Out of sight, out of mind? Like the United States and many other countries, Costa Rica has a policy of not extraditing its own citizens - to protect them, the argument goes, from injustice in other lands that may have harsher or more arbitrary rules. Does that mean that even accused murderers are safe from prose-cution as long as they slide across the border before the cops tag them?
Even with this dubious policy of protecting one’s own no matter what they might have done, the New Orleans prosecutor could post an international warrant for Salazar’s arrest with Interpol and they could pick him up if he left Costa Rica for Panama or Nicaragua - or any country outside of Costa Rica. Interpol has no record of such a warrant.
No matter what their nationality, criminal suspects should not enjoy impunity in countries - like the U.S. and Costa Rica - that have extradition treaties and mutual respect for their systems of justice. It’s time to plug the holes.
[Return]By Tim Sparkman
tsparkman@ticotimes.net
Tico Times Staff
Pennsylvania native Lisa Mullanax left Costa Rica Monday after a week of tearful pleas to government officials to intervene in the case of her Tico husband, Alejandro Méndez, who has been accused in the United States of killing their three-and-a-half-month-old son.
The 29-year-old Méndez, originally from the Cartago area east of San José, was arrested Aug. 11 in Hartstown, Pa., after nearly a year of police investigation into the death of their son, Lucas Alejandro Mullanax-Méndez. He is being held in the Clinton County Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania.
According to doctors at the hospital where the baby died Sept. 2, 2002, Lucas suffered severe hemorrhaging in his brain.
According to his mother, the baby stopped breathing on Aug. 27, 2002, and was revived by paramedics shortly after and taken by ambulance to nearby Centre Community Hospital. He died a few days later after being airlifted to a different hospital.
According to the Affidavit of Probable Cause provided to The Tico Times by Centre County District Attorney Ray F. Gricar, who is prosecuting the case, a doctor at Centre Community Hospital told the investigating detective that Lucas's hemorrhaging was due to "a condition commonly referred to as 'shaken baby syndrome.'"
An autopsy performed Sept. 4 at the Geisinger Medical Center, to which Lucas was taken before he died, determined that "the cause of death was blunt force trauma and the manner of death was homicide," according to the affidavit. The affidavit says the trauma sustained by the child occurred "within minutes" of Lucas being found unresponsive by Méndez, who then rushed him to a neighbor who called emergency services.
Méndez was home alone with Lucas when the baby stopped breathing, a fact which, combined with the doctor's diagnosis of "shaken baby syndrome" and the autopsy report, led police to name Méndez as responsible for the death of his child, according to the affidavit. Gricar said no trial date has been set for Méndez, and confirmed that his office will seek the death penalty.
Mullanax, a 29-year-old middle-school Spanish teacher who met Méndez during a school trip to Costa Rica and married him the following year, insists her husband is innocent. "He would've died for our son," she exclaimed in an interview Monday with The Tico Times. "He bathed him, he fed him; the only thing he wanted was a son." The bereaved mother, who appears to be nearly at her wits' end after losing her baby and possibly her husband in the future, says she firmly believes the true cause of her child's death was overmedication.
She commissioned California toxicologist and pathologist Dr. Mohammed Ali Al-Bayati to study her and her son's medical records, with the aim of determining the cause of the baby's death. Dr. Al-Bayati's 32-page report details the vaccinations and other medications given to Lucas during his short life, as well as a series of antibiotics prescribed to Mullanax. He concluded "Lucas's health problems were induced as a result of his seven vaccines received on July 23, and the treatment of his mother with antibiotics during Lucas's breast-feeding period, used to treat her upper-respiratory infection and mastitis."
Al-Bayati also provided a point-by-point refutation of the autopsy performed Sept. 4, 2002, by Dr. Samuel Land, concluding, "Dr. Land's conclusions are unsupported by the clinical data related to the case." In particular, Dr. Al-Bayati points out that Dr. Land, who performed the autopsy at the hospital's request, did not provide any evidence that the baby suffered physical trauma - the autopsy's main conclusion.
Mullanax claims her baby had no bruises on his body when he was taken to the hospital. Dr. Al-Bayati cites medical reports from the two hospitals, which corroborate her claim.
The police affidavit states, "The infant was observed to have several visible bruises, which were located on the infant's forehead, left knee and lower back." The Tico Times was unable to obtain a copy of the hospital medical records, including the autopsy report.
In a phone interview, Dr. Al-Bayati, in reference to accusations of murder by parents of infants diagnosed with shaken baby syndrome, told The Tico Times, "This is not an isolated incident. All these children died of an overdose of medication. This problem is all over the United States," he added.
Dr. Land could not be reached for comment. District Attorney Gricar told The Tico Times he had not seen Dr. Al-Bayati's report, and would not comment on it after The Tico Times sent him a copy.
In her interview with The Tico Times, Mullanax claimed her husband of two years is being persecuted because he is Hispanic, and was treated poorly ever since the initial emergency with their baby. She said Méndez was detained by police when the paramedics first arrived at their house to tend to the lifeless Lucas. Although she was not home at the time, she claims the ambulance door was "shut in Alejandro's face," leaving him behind with police while the baby was rushed to the hospital.
The affidavit provided by Gricar states Méndez declined to go with his baby to the hospital, choosing instead to stay at his house with police. Gricar characterized the allegation that racism led to Méndez's arrest as "totally false."
While in Costa Rica, Mullanax said she spoke to Ombudsman José Manuel Echandí, Vice-Minister of Government Belisario Solano, and National Liberation Party legislator Luis Villanueva. She said she tried several times to contact President Abel Pacheco, but he did not return her calls. "They helped with his mother's visa," she said, "but can't do much with the judicial process."
Mullanax, who says she plans to continue fighting to prove her husband's innocence, accompanied Méndez's mother back to the United States to visit Méndez in jail during the holiday season.
[Return]By Tim Sparkman
tsparkman@ticotimes.net
Tico Times Staff
Pennsylvania-native Lisa Mullanax left Costa Rica yesterday after a week of tearful pleas to government officials to intervene in the case of her Tico husband, Alejandro Méndez, who has been accused in the United States of killing their three-and-a-half-month-old son.
Méndez, originally from the Cartago area east of San José, was taken into custody Aug. 11 in Hartstown, Pa., after nearly a year of police investigations into the death of their son, Lucas Alejandro Mullanax-Méndez. Mullanax said her husband is being held in the Clinton County Correctional Facility in Pennsylvania.
Baby Lucas died on Sept. 2, 2002, after suffering severe hemorrhaging in his brain. According to Mullanax, a doctor at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa., where the baby was taken, told police the injuries were caused by "shaken baby syndrome." The father was home alone with the child when Lucas stopped breathing and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. The police, she said, looked directly to her husband as the culprit.
Mullanax insists her husband is innocent. "He would've died for our son," she exclaimed in an interview yesterday with The Tico Times. "The only thing he wanted was a son."
The bereaved mother believes the true cause of death is overmedication, both from vaccinations given to the infant shortly before his death and a host of antibiotics prescribed to her. She also claimed there were no bruises on Lucas's body, which she said is an obvious sign the baby had not been shaken.
Mullanax said the District Attorney who will prosecute her husband has declared his intention to seek the death penalty. However, no date has been set for his trial.
While in Costa Rica, Mullanax told The Tico Times she spoke to Ombudsman José Manuel Echandí, Vice-Minister of Government Belisario Solano, and National Liberation Party legislator Luis Villanueva. She said she tried several times to contact President Abel Pacheco, but he did not return her calls.
She said she told these officials she believed her husband is innocent of the charges, and hoped they could offer some form of intervention or assistance, as well as help her mother-in-law obtain a visa to travel to the United States to visit her incarcerated son. "They helped with his mother's visa," she said, "but can't do much with the judicial process."
[Return]By John Bartlett
john.bartlett@timesnews.com
MEADVILLE - Lisa Mullenax lives under a shadow of suspicion cast by the death of her infant son in September 2002 and the murder charges filed against her husband in a Centre County case. Mullenax, who proclaims her husband's innocence and her own, said parents nationwide are falsely being accused in alleged shaken baby syndrome cases.
Mullenax, living at her parent's East Fallowfield Township in Crawford County, would be happy for no more public scrutiny, but she believes her message is too important. "I am 100 percent convinced of my husband's innocence. Our baby slept in my husband's arms every night," she said. "Physicians are considering only one thing (shaken baby syndrome) and parents are being blamed."
She stepped into the news in Crawford County when she appeared in court Aug. 22 to support John Raymond McGee, who along with Heather McNamara is accused of seriously injuring their 2-month-old daughter in March. Mullenax said she wrote the couple to tell them of her research and that there could be many medical reasons for the injuries their child sustained that have nothing to do with child abuse.
"I would never want to advocate for a parent that abused their child," she said. "But before they are deemed guilty, the possible other causes need to be discounted. The tragedy is once a physician sees brain hemorrhages and retinal hemorrhages they jump to a conclusion of shaken baby syndrome." Police and Children and Youth Services then build a case to support that conclusion, she said.
There is growing evidence that brain and retinal hemorrhages and associated injuries in infants have many causes, Mullenax said, holding a thick sheaf of papers of reports downloaded from the Internet or obtained directly from researchers.
Mohammed Ali Al-Bayati, a California pathologist and toxicologist retained by Mullenax and her husband, Alejandro Mendez Vargas, to examine their child's medical records, concluded that shaken baby syndrome was not the cause of death. Rather, he concluded the child's death likely resulted from a vitamin K deficiency coupled with several other factors that caused bleeding in the brain, Al-Bayati wrote in his report.
However, Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar stands by the conclusions reached by the doctors who treated the child, the determination of the county coroner and findings of criminal investigators. Gricar said in September at Vargas' preliminary hearing that he would pursue the death penalty.
It was early in the afternoon of Aug. 27, 2002, when Vargas ran to a neighbor's home, carrying the limp body of his and Mullenax's 3-month-old son, Lucas. At the time, Mullenax was at a faculty meeting at the Centre County school where she taught Spanish. The child was taken to Centre Community Hospital and then flown to Geisinger Medical Center, where he died Sept. 2, 2002. Mullenax said from the moment they arrived at the hospitals, the physicians and staff assumed it was a case of shaken baby syndrome.
"We were requesting books to look at the terms they were telling us. We had no idea, we couldn't understand," she said. Mullenax said in her heart she knew her husband could not be responsible, nor was she. It was not until researching the causes for bleeding in the brain and associated injuries in infants that she learned there were causes other than abuse.
The investigation lasted nearly a year. Meanwhile, Mullenax and her husband moved back to Crawford County and in with her parents shortly after their child's death. They were in frequent contact with investigators, and their lawyer asked that if charges were filed, the couple be allowed to turn themselves in.
Instead, on Aug. 11 at about 5:30 p.m., state police, including a SWAT team, surrounded her parents' Hartstown-area home and took Vargas into custody.
"I still don't know if I'll be charged," she said. With the help of a friend, Mullenax said she has researched numerous cases in addition to her own and has contacted 17 other people in Pennsylvania that she believes have been falsely accused. "We are not an isolated case," she said. Mullenax said she knows many people probably assume she's simply unable to see or accept the truth of what happened to her child.
"I'm not asking for anyone's sympathy," she said. "I just want the other side presented. I want physicians and others to rule out other possible causes before they accuse parents."
By John Bartlett
john.bartlett@timesnews.com
MEADVILLE - John Raymond McGee, accused with Heather Marie McNamara of seriously injuring their 2-month-old daughter in March, had some unusual support Monday as he appeared before a district justice. Seen talking to McGee was Lisa Mullenax, whose husband stands accused in Centre County of murdering their 3-month-old child a year ago. McGee left the offices of District Justice Lincoln Zilhaver of Saegertown telling Mullenax he would be in touch later. McGee on Monday waived his preliminary hearing. McNamara has previously waived hers.
"I'm here in support," said Mullenax, who now lives at her parent's home in Hartstown. "I want to let everyone know there are other medical explanations for the injuries than shaken baby syndrome. Mullenax said she knows from her own experience that authorities accuse parents without exploring possible medical reasons for injuries to children.
"I wrote both the mother and father (McNamara and McGee) in jail to let them know the possibility of other causes for the injuries," she said.
Both McGee and McNamara are free on bond. A condition of release for both is that they do not have unsupervised contact with anyone younger than 18. In addition, McGee is to have no contact, either directly or indirectly, with McNamara. McGee, 29, of Cambridge Springs and McNamara, also 29, of Union City, each are charged with one count of aggravated assault, two counts of criminal conspiracy to commit aggravated assault and one count of endangering the welfare of children.
Cambridge Springs Police allege the couple, either directly or indirectly, caused their daughter to suffer multiple facial injuries, cerebral edema (swelling of the brain), subdural hemorrhages, intracranial bleeding and bilateral retinal hemorrhages. The baby is also reported to have had a rib fracture, a fracture of the upper right leg and a fracture of the upper left arm that occurred at different times, according to police.
Police further allege the couple failed to seek medical care for their daughter, and when the girl did get medical attention, the couple provided health-care workers with an incorrect medical history and description of symptoms. The couple's child, identified only as A.M.M. in court records, is in protective custody and is recovering from her injuries.
Mullenax said the couple must be considered innocent until proved guilty, and that investigators need to fully explore other possible causes for the child's injuries, including genetic defects and recent illnesses. "The tragedy in these cases is police and Children and Youth Services totally abandon any other possibilities, they don't consider them. Instead, they blame the parents," she said.
Mullenax's husband, Alejandro Mendez Vargas, is awaiting trial in Centre County on charges that include first-degree murder in the death of their 3-month old son on Sept. 2, 2002. Centre County District Attorney Ray Gricar recently announced he would seek the death penalty if Vargas is convicted of first-degree murder.
By Erin L. Nissley
enissley@centredaily.com
Posted on Thu, Sep. 04, 2003
BELLEFONTE - District Attorney Ray Gricar said Wednesday that he'll pursue the death penalty for a Boalsburg man accused of killing his 3-month-old son about a year ago. "Because of the age of the child, it will be a capital case," Gricar said after a district justice ruled there is enough evidence against 29-year-old Alejandro Mendez Vargas to send the case to trial.
Vargas was charged with first- and third-degree murder last month in the death of his infant son Lucas, whom medical officials say died of shaken baby syndrome Sept. 2, 2002. At Vargas' preliminary hearing Wednesday, Gricar called six witnesses to the stand to talk about what they saw Aug. 27, 2002.
Vargas' neighbor, Sandy O'Neal, said she was watching "The Young and the Restless" when Vargas, holding Lucas, rang her doorbell. "He looked very upset and said 'Please help me. There's something wrong with my baby,' " O'Neal said. "(The baby's) breathing was shallow, his eyes had rolled back in his head."
She said she started doing CPR on the infant after telling Vargas to call 911. State College Cpl. Mark Argiro arrived at the home and continued to perform CPR on the baby until he saw a "milky fluid" around the baby's mouth.
The child was taken to Centre Community Hospital, then air-lifted to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, where he died Sept. 2, 2002. A doctor at Center Community Hospital told Argiro the baby had a fractured rib that was beginning to heal and that the baby's current injuries "looked like shaken baby syndrome." Police began investigating.
The baby's medical reports were entered into evidence at Wednesday's preliminary hearing despite objections by Vargas' lawyer, Bruce Manchester. He said after the hearing that he had subpoenaed doctors for Wednesday's hearing but that they did not show up. He called the conclusions contained in autopsy reports and other medical reports "junk science" and said no alternative explanations for the infant's death had been explored.
"I'm upset that the doctors didn't think it important to be here," Manchester said. "They made the claims but weren't here to back it up." Gricar said the doctors and the forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy reports will be available to testify at the upcoming trial.
About 10 people, most of them family members of Vargas' wife Lisa Mullenax-Mendez, were in court for the hearing. None spoke to media before leaving the courthouse, though Mullenax-Mendez spoke to her husband before he was led away by police. Manchester said she is behind Vargas "100 percent."
By Erin L. Nissley
enissley@centredaily.com
Posted on Wed, Aug. 13, 2003
STATE COLLEGE - A former Boalsburg man will appear in Centre County Court next week to answer charges that he murdered his infant son. Alejandro Mendez Vargas, 29, formerly of 211 Woodmont St., Boalsburg, is charged with assaulting his 3-month-old son, Lucas Mullenax Mendez, on Aug. 27, 2002. The child died at Geisinger Medical Center on Sept. 2, 2002. A coroner's report indicated that the boy died of blunt trauma to his head, likely from being shaken.
According to court papers, Vargas told police that his son woke up from a nap on Aug. 27, and Vargas changed the baby's diaper and put the baby down on his back on a double bed and went into another room. When he returned to check on his son, he found the baby had stopped breathing, according search warrant documents filed by police.
Vargas carried the boy to a neighbor's home and police were called, according to the documents. Police and paramedics arrived to find that the baby had stopped breathing. The child's mother, Lisa Mullenax, had left the house to go to work.
Paramedics were able to revive the boy, who was taken to Centre Community Hospital. At the hospital, it was discovered that the baby had serious internal head injuries and a previously broken rib that were consistent with "shaken baby syndrome."
Shaken baby syndrome describes a number of injuries sustained when a baby is shaken or thrown. The injuries range from mild, such as a slight bruising to an infant's eyes or brain, to severe cases that result in blindness, brain damage or death.
Search warrant documents state that when questioned about the baby's injuries by hospital staff, Vargas said several times, "If I do wrong, I don't know."
Lucas was flown to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, where he died five days later. An autopsy by the Montour County coroner ruled that the cause of death was a homicide.
Vargas was arrested Monday at the home of his wife's parents at 9271 W. Calvin Road, Hartstown, in Crawford County. He was arraigned before District Justice Carmine W. Prestia and remanded to Centre County Jail without bail. He is scheduled to appear in Centre County Court on Aug. 20 for a preliminary hearing.
[Return]From CDT staff reports
Posted on Tue, Aug. 12, 2003
STATE COLLEGE - A former Boalsburg man will appear in Centre County Court next week to answer charges that he murdered his infant son. Alejandro Mendez Vargas, 29, formerly of 211 Woodmont St., Boalsburg, is charged with assaulting his 3-month-old son, Lucas Mullenax Mendez, on Aug. 27, 2002. The child died at Geisinger Medical Center on Sept. 2, 2002. A coroner's report indicated that the boy died of blunt trauma to his head, likely from being shaken.
According to court papers, Vargas told police that his son woke up from a nap on Aug. 27, and Vargas changed the baby's diaper and put the baby down on his back on a double bed and went into another room. When he returned to check on his son, he found the baby had stopped breathing, according search warrant documents filed by police.
Vargas carried the boy to a neighbor's home and police were called, according to the documents. Police and paramedics arrived to find that the baby had stopped breathing. The child's mother, Lisa Mullenax, had left the house to go to work.
Paramedics were able to revive the boy, who was taken to Centre Community Hospital. At the hospital, it was discovered that the baby had serious internal head injuries and a previously broken rib that were consistent with "shaken baby syndrome." Shaken baby syndrome describes a number of injuries sustained when a baby is shaken or thrown. The injuries range from mild, such as a slight bruising to an infant's eyes or brain, to severe cases that result in blindness, brain damage or death.
Search warrant documents state that when questioned about the baby's injuries by hospital staff, Vargas said several times, "If I do wrong, I don't know."
Lucas was flown to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, where he died five days later. An autopsy by the Montour County coroner ruled that the cause of death was a homicide. Vargas was arrested Monday at the home of his wife's parents at 9271 W. Calvin Road, Hartstown, in Crawford County. He was arraigned before District Justice Carmine W. Prestia and remanded to Centre County Jail without bail. He is scheduled to appear in Centre County Court on Aug. 20 for a preliminary hearing.
[Return]Associated Press
Posted on Tue, Aug. 12, 2003
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The father of a 3-month-old baby boy that died last year is now accused of killing the infant. State College police said Alejandro Mendez Vargas, 29, was arrested Monday and was placed in the Centre County Prison without bail. The former Boalsburg resident was taken into custody at his in-laws' home in Hartstown, Crawford County.
Mendez is accused of assaulting his son, Lucas, to the point that the child stopped breathing on Aug. 27, 2002. The boy was revived and flown to Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, where he later died on Sept. 2.
Mendez could not be reached for comment because he was in custody; it was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer.
[Return]Subject: Arrest Press Release (State College Police)
Alejandro Mendez Vargas, 29, formerly of 211 Woodmont Street, Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, has been charged with the murder of his infant son. In a criminal complaint filed before District Justice Bradley P. Lunsford, the State College Police Department alleges that Alejandro assaulted his then 3-month-old son, Lucas Mullenax Mendez, at their home on August 27, 2002. Lucas died at Geisinger Medical Center on September 2, 2002 as a result of injuries sustained on August 27th.
The incident began on August 27, 2002, at the family home at 211 Woodmont Street in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, Centre County at approximately 1:28 P.M. when police and ambulance were summoned to the home after receiving a 911 call from a neighbor. First responders discovered Lucas Mullenax Mendez had stopped breathing. Emergency medical treatment was administered and his breathing restored. Alpha Ambulance transported Lucas to Centre Community Hospital.
At the hospital, it was discovered that Lucas had serious internal head injuries and a previously broken rib that were consistent with shaken baby syndrome. Lucas was subsequently airlifted to Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, Pennsylvania where he remained until his death on September 2, 2002. An autopsy performed by the Montour County Coroner ruled that the cause of death was blunt force trauma and the manner of death was homicide. Blunt force trauma is consistent with shaken baby syndrome.
Alejandro Mendez Vargas was taken into custody today at the home of his wife's parents at 9271 West Calvin Road, Hartstown, Pennsylvania, Crawford County. He was arraigned before District Justice Carmine W. Prestia and denied bail by Centre County President Judge Charles Brown. Mendez Vargas was lodged in Centre County Jail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, August 20, 2003 at the Centre County Courthouse.
[Return]NEW DETAILS IN A CENTRE COUNTY SHAKEN BABY CASE THAT STILL HAS NO TRIAL DATE.
The defense attorney for 29-year old Alejandro Mendez-Vargaz says he wants Elaine Whitfield Sharp to be the co-council in the case. Sharp got national attention for defending a British nanny accused of shaking a baby in Boston in 1997. The Centre County District Attorney objected to Sharp's joining the defense team...and a judge went along with that recommendation.
Vargas' attorney says if Sharp isn't co-council, he expects to use her as a consultant during the trial. Vargas is accused of killing his three-month-old-son in August of 2002.
[Return]SHAKEN BABY CASE
New developments in a Centre County murder case. A Massachusetts lawyer who specializes in shaken baby syndrome cases has joined the defense team of Alejandro Vargas Mendez. The former Boalsburg man is facing murder charges in the death of his infant son. Police were called to the home in August of 2002 after a neighbor called 911. The baby had stopped breathing when authorities arrived on scene. An autopsy determined the cause of death was blunt force trauma and the manner of death ruled a homicide. Mendez's attorney argues the medical evidence does not support shaken baby syndrome. Sharp will only help with building a defense for Mendez, a judge has denied her request to represent Mendez in Court.
NATIONAL EXPERTS TO TESTIFY IN AREA MURDER CASE
Some national experts are being ined up a for an area murder case involving shaken baby syndrome.
Former Boalsburg resident, Alejandro Mendez-Vargas, is charged with murder in the death of his infant son. Mendez-Vargas denies doing anything wrong, and his attorney is lining up Boston lawyers who got a British nanny cleared of similar charges in a well documented case.
[Return]HEARING SET IN BABY MURDER CASE
A Centre County man accused of killing his 3-month-old son is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Alejandro Vargas, 29, of Boalsburg. Vargas is charged with murdering his infant son, Lucas Mendez, last August. Police reports say the child died of shaken baby syndrome.
HEARING SET IN BABY MURDER CASE
A Centre County man accused of killing his 3-month-old son is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Alejandro Vargas, 29, of Boalsburg. Vargas is charged with murdering his infant son, Lucas Mendez, last August. Police reports say the child died of shaken baby syndrome.
FATHER CHARGED IN SON'S MURDER INVESTIGATION
Boalsburg -- After a lengthy investigation, a former Boalsburg man is charged with murdering his three month old son. Alejandro Mendez Vargas was arraigned last night , and police say it's a case of shaken baby syndrome that caused the death of the infant.
Police were called to the family home in Boalsburg last August. Vargas told police he was home with the baby when he noticed his son appeared lifeless. The baby was rushed to the Centre Community Hospital, and after discovering that the baby had serious internal head injuries and a previously broken rib, he was taken to the Geisinger Medical Center where he died few days later. An autopsy revealed the cause of death was a head injury. Vargas is jailed this on first and third degree murder charges. A preliminary hearing is set for next week.
[Return]CENTRE COUNTY HEADLINES
A former Boalsurg man is now charged with murder in last year's death of his infant son. Alejandro Mendez Vargas was arraigned Monday night on first and third degree charges. He's being held without bail in the Centre County Prison. Last August police were called to the Vargas home in Boalsburg when the father said his three month old son, Lucas, was unresponsive. Lucas died a few days later, and an autopsy concluded the death was due to a head injury; diagnosed as shaken baby syndrome. Police say Vargas was the only person home with the infant when the injury occurred. Vargas is due in court for a preliminary hearing next week.
FATHER ARRESTED FOR INFANT'S DEATH
The father of a three-month-old baby boy who died last year is now accused of killing the infant. State College police say 29-year-old Alejandro Mendez Vargas was arrested on Monday and is now in the Centre County Prison. The former Boalsburg resident was taken into custody at his in-laws' home in Hartstown, Crawford County. Mendez can't be reached for comment because he's in custody.