LA MESA PARENTS CHARGED WITH MURDER OF BABY BOY

By Miriam Raftery

Photo courtesy of ECM news partner 10 News

August 26, 2019 (La Mesa)   Parents in La Mesa are charged with murdering their infant son, as well as assault and child abuse. Joel Dwayne Rodriguez-Brownell and Jalena Robin Rodriguez were arrested August 18th after their 8-month-old son, also named Joel, suffered life-threatening injuries. Murder charges were added after the child died a day later.

El Cajon Police responded to a call on August 17th from Rady Children's Hospital, wher the baby had been transported from the El Cajon Famliy Health Center with "several suspicious injuries" and shortness of breath, according to a press release from the La Mesa Police Department.

A person who knows the couple told ECM news partner 10 News that the infant was taken to Rady Children’s Hospital with a swollen brain, knuckle marks on his forehead, a dislocated arm and shoulder.

El Cajon Police officers determined that the injuries had occurred at the parents' residence in the 6900 block of Rolando Knolls Drive in La Mesa, so the La Mesa Police Department took over the investigtion. Hospital staff determined the injuries were serious and life threatening. Both parents were arrestesd and County Child Welfare Services assumed custody, but the infant died on August 19th.

The child's father was booked into the San Diego County Jail and his mother at Las Colinas Women's Detention Facility in Santee.

Bail has been set at $100,000 each, according to the  city of La Mesa’s arrest log.