Stepmother charged with killing 4-year-old Sirita Sotelo 

07:56 AM PST on Tuesday, March 15, 2005

From KING 5 Staff and Wire Reports

EVERETT, Wash. - The stepmother of 4-year-old Sirita Sotelo has been charged with the beating death of the toddler in January at the family home in Lake Stevens, Wash.

The charge was filed Monday in Superior Court against Heather B. Ewell, 25, of Lake Stevens. Sirita was fathered by Ewell's husband, John C. Ewell, in an extramarital affair with Patricia Sotelo.

"I prayed to God that it was an accident. I didn't want to hear somebody caused harm to my angel," said Patricia Sotelo, currently an inmate in the King County Jail in Seattle. "I just don't understand."

Ewell was caring for Sirita Sotelo the night of her death. Police said she initially fabricated a story to cover up what really happened. Ewell reportedly plans to plead guilty to the charges, say Snohomish County prosecutors.

After Sirita's death on Jan. 21, Ewell told detectives the girl accidentally fell back and hit her head. But papers filed by prosecutors in Snohomish County Superior Court allege that Ewell struck the at least four times while she was taking care of her, causing a skull fracture and severed liver.

The blows were so severe that any one of them would have been fatal, investigators said in court papers.

KING

Sirita Sotelo

Sirita's death was ruled a homicide by abuse.

“The medical examiner's report indicated the injuries to the girl were not accidental,” said Craig Matheson, deputy prosecuting attorney.

Ewell and the child’s aunt initially told authorities the girl might have swallowed some glue gun cleaning solvent, but tests showed no such substance in her blood, investigators wrote.

“It makes you incredibly angry,” said Gary M., Sirita's former foster father. “How hard do you hit someone to do that kind of damage? You can hit someone pretty hard and it doesn't kill them."

After the child's death, her foster parents testified before the Legislature in favor of legal changes to protect other foster children by changing state law to limit the rights of biological parents.

The bill known as "Sirita's Law" passed the House 94-0 last Thursday and is pending in the Senate.

Sirita was born with cocaine in her system and state officials have said she was checked a number of times as a potential abuse or neglect victim before being returned to her father and his wife. She was a “special needs child, with both cognitive and emotional issues,” Matheson wrote.

Relatives said she frequently told Ewell she “hated” her or “wished she were dead so she could be alone with her dad,” and Ewell—who has four young children of her own—became depressed over the disruptive effect on the family, the prosecutor added.

State Child Protective Services investigators were reviewing the agency’s handling of the case.

Ewell was not immediately arrested and will probably not be taken into custody until her arraignment next Wednesday, March 23. If found guilty, Ewell could face up to 8.5 years in prison.

The Associated Press and KING 5's Jane McCarthy and Ray Lane contributed to this report.