Dallas

Dallas Man Charged in Death of 4-Year-Old

Family says they had called CPS with concerns about the child's well-being

A Dallas man has been charged with capital murder in the death of his common-law wife's 4-year-old son.

According to an arrest affidavit, Darwin Delgado died on Friday, July 14, at Medical City Hospital after the boy's caretaker at the time, Brandon Gordy, called 911 saying that the child was "unresponsive."

The affidavit lists the child's cause of death as blunt force trauma.

Gordy is the common-law husband of Darwin's mother, Rosa Angon-Diaz, who said she was away at work when the fatal injuries occurred.

According to the affidavit, the child's mother told police that Gordy was physically abusive to her the day before her child died, allegedly "grabbing her by the neck throwing her up against a wall."

Family members tell NBC 5 that Gordy was already being investigated by Child Protective Services.

The child's aunt, Juana Monjaras, says she believes the child's death could have been prevented and told NBC 5 that she was suspicious of Gordy and that the family actually contacted CPS in late April after an incident.

According to court documents, Gordy told police that he was the only one watching three children in an apartment on the 8900 block of Park Lane on Friday while Angon-Diaz was at work. The affidavit goes on to say that Gordy left the 4-year-old alone in the bathtub for just a couple of minutes while he checked on his infant daughter in another room. Gordy told police that while he was away from the bathroom he heard "a loud thump coming from the bathroom" and found the boy "slumped in the tub ... with his face partially down in the water," according to the report.

The affidavit says that when Dallas police detectives pressed further about the events leading up to the discovery, Gordy became "belligerent," and denied he did anything wrong.

The report also provides detail from the Dallas County Medical Examiner's Office about the boy's cause of death, saying Darwin died of a lacerated liver which could only occur from "blunt force trauma."

The child's aunt says they contacted CPS back in April with concerns about Delgado's brother who had suffered a laceration on his chin, according to the family.

"I still don't believe he's dead. I think he's alive," said Monjaras. "The thing that upsets me is that he had a life, he had a future and that guy took it away from him. He didn't want to die. I know he didn't because he used to tell us how much he wanted to be a cop."

Darwin's grandmother showed NBC 5 a video she recorded of the boy demonstrating what had happened to his mother in the past — choking and slapping.

"The kids had come with black eyes, with big knots on their heads, scratches," Monjaras said.

CPS spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales called the child's death "terribly sad" and released a statement to NBC 5 that read, in part, "The family has had contact with CPS previously, however, due to confidentiality restrictions, I can't discuss the details of those interactions."

Gonzales said that Darwin's siblings were removed from the home on Monday and placed in foster care.

The Office of Child Safety, an independent third-party, is now doing a full review of the case.

"To see whether policy was followed or whether anything could have been done differently," Gonzales said. 

Contact Us