Mom Arrested in Death of 3-Year-Old Son

LA HABRA —  A La Habra mother was arrested Friday on suspicion of murder in the death of her 3-year-old son, whose battered body showed signs he had been abused for months, police said.

Police called to Geneva Adame’s home May 18 found her on her front lawn, sobbing over the lifeless body of her son, Daniel Angel Morales. It was an eerie flashback to a tragedy in the same home 28 years earlier, when Adame sat crying outside while police inside investigated the murder of her mother. Her father was arrested and charged with that killing, but later acquitted.

“It appears that there’s been generations of dysfunction in this family,” La Habra Police Capt. John Rees said. “We can only hope the death of this poor child will be the end of that dysfunction.”

Geneva Adame’s arrest on suspicion of murder and child abuse came nearly six weeks after paramedics were first called to the home in the 1300 block of Lorella Avenue and found the youngster suffering from a seizure, police said.

Authorities concluded the single mother of four was responsible for the boy’s death after an extensive investigation that included interviews with neighbors, the dead child’s baby sitters and stakeouts outside the home Adame still shares with her father, Andrew Adame, 67.

“The arrest followed an exhaustive investigation by detectives,” Rees said. “It’s been a sad and difficult case to handle.”

An autopsy found that severe trauma to the back of the boy’s head caused his death on May 19 at UCI Medical Center in Orange. But the report noted that older injuries may have contributed as well, police said. The report showed the child suffered severe trauma to his ears, arms, legs, genitalia and rectum, police said.

“In this case you can’t say it was this injury here that led to the baby’s death or this particular blow caused the death,” Rees said. “It was a culmination of incidents.”

Police refused to elaborate on the victim’s injuries except to say he had been subjected to “physical and emotional abuse” for several months prior to his death.

“This child did not have a happy, healthy life,” Rees said. “There’s no way that can be disputed given the facts we have here.”

But family members Friday disputed that. They said Geneva Adame would never injure her children and portrayed her as a kind mother with enduring patience. Her sister, Mary Adame-Marston, said she frequently left her 4-year-old daughter in Geneva Adame’s care.

“My sister is not capable of hurting a child,” Adame-Marston said. “She has been crying all day saying, ‘How could they do this to me?’ ”

Adame-Marston said Friday her sister was not with Daniel when he suffered the fatal injuries.

While neighbors said patrol cars often visited the Adames home to quiet disturbances, residents said they were still shocked to learn of the mother’s arrest.

Many said the slain boy always appeared happy, although a bit quiet and shy, and they recalled how he enjoyed playing basketball with other neighborhood children.

“The times I did see him, he seemed OK,” said neighbor Maria Orozco, whose 2-year-old son Russell often played with the child. “He seemed like a normal little boy.”

“It’s a real tragedy,” said another neighbor, Dolly Baird. “I can’t imagine anyone abusing their child.”

Some neighbors said they would wave hello at Geneva Adame as she walked along the street, Daniel in tow. But they never got to know the Adame family because they mainly kept to themselves, neighbors said.

Only one neighbor, Alex Castro, said he remembered that night when Nora Adame died. He recalled the commotion, and the shock that gripped the neighborhood.

“We went over there and paid our condolences,” Castro recalled.

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Officers who arrived at the home on Sept. 14, 1969, reported seeing three crying children in the front yard, including Geneva Adame, according to records in Orange County Superior Court.

Geneva Adame told officers she woke up about 2 a.m. to gunfire, and when she and an older brother went into their parents’ bedroom to see what was wrong, they found their father on the telephone and their mother bleeding on the floor, according to court records.

Adame’s father was charged but later acquitted of shooting Nora Adame once in the head, according to police and court records.

Adame-Marston said her eight brothers and sisters remain a tight-knit bunch, even as they have weathered family hardship for many years.

“We are a very close family and the police are trying to tear us apart,” said Adame-Marston, who added that her sister has been deeply depressed, crying constantly, since her son’s death. “It’s been really difficult for our family. We don’t need any more problems.”

Adame has three other children ranging from 5 to 18 years in age, police said. The two younger children have been placed in protective custody. It is unclear where her oldest son is living, but police said all four children have different fathers who have little or no involvement with the family.

“We have a dead 3-year-old and three other kids without a father and, now, without a mother,” Rees said.

Adame was being held without bail at the Orange County Jail late Friday and will likely be arraigned early next week, police said.