Violence killed 4-year-old Lake Stevens girl

06:05 AM PST on Friday, January 28, 2005

KING5.com Staff and Wire Reports

EVERETT, Wash. - A 4-year-old Lake Stevens, Wash. girl initially thought to have been killed by poison last Friday actually died of blunt force trauma to the head and body, according to the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's office.

It is now being investigated as a homicide.

No arrests have been made yet in the case, but the child's death was particularly tragic for a couple that wanted very badly to be Sirita Sotelo's permanent family.

Gary and his wife were hoping to adopt her and were crushed when she left.

[We are using Gary's first name only so as not to identify him to the parents of their other foster children.]

Sotelo had been bounced around from foster home to foster home for most of her life. Her mother is currently in jail on drug charges.

The mother, Patricia Sotelo, is in jail, serving time for a drug conviction.

The medical examiner's office is currently running tests on the girl's body, trying to get a better idea of what caused her death.

"After nine months, you don't call them a foster kid anymore. That's your daughter, at least in your heart. Legally it's not your daughter, but you feel like it's yours and of course I bawled when she left," Gary said.

But fourteen months ago, when the subject of Sotelo's permanent home came up, the child's biological father declared he wanted to take his daughter back.

The child then went to live with her father and stepmother in Lake Stevens.

It's maddening to Gary.

"I can tell you this, kids don't end up in foster care because they have perfect parents. There's something dysfunctional that's going on and you're returning them back to that place," he said.

"This little girl more than anything else wanted to know 'where is my place in the world, where do I belong?'. When she heard from them that she was going to get to stay with them for ever and ever, she was so excited and she told us so many times, 'I'm going to stay with them for ever and ever'."

Hours before Sotelo died, a woman who identified herself as the girl's aunt called a poison control center.

She said the girl might have ingested some glue gun cleaner and had a mild stomachache. The woman was told to give the child some milk or ice cream.

When the poison center called back a couple of hours later, there was no answer, and when deputies arrived at the girl’s house, they found her dead.

It was a tragic end to a troubled life. Sotelo had been in and out of foster care from the time she was born.

Child Protective Services had checked a number of times for potential abuse or neglect. At the time of her death she was living with her father and stepmother and five other children.

The other children were taken from the home as a safety precaution. Those children, two boys and three girls ranging in age from 11 months to 8 years, were not injured.

Department of Health Services officials said they're conducting a full review to make sure all of its policies and procedures were followed.

So far, no one has been arrested in the little girl's death, but detectives have said the adults who were inside the house Friday night are considered potential suspects.