AURORA - The mother of a 22-month-old girl killed after she was run over by a van says she was on the second floor of her condo checking Facebook messages when her daughter was run over on May 27, according to new court documents reviewed by the 9Wants to Know investigators.
Investigators say the mother of the girl, 30-year-old Karen Pena, first told them her kids had gone outside to play at the next-door neighbor's. Police say she later said she told her kids to play in their yard inside a fenced area at her condo.
Pena, 30, was arrested on charges of child abuse (neglect) resulting in death, a class 3 felony, on Thursday. She is being held on a $50,000 bond.
Pena's young daughter, Laniece Fletcher, was in a nearby parking lot and was run over by a van about 3:19 p.m. She had a pulse and was breathing when she arrived at The Children's Hospital in Aurora, but later died.
Detectives noted several hazards to children inside Pena's fenced-in area.
In Pena's arrest affidavit, an Aurora Police detective says the latch on the gate was missing a screw which allowed the gate to swing freely.
"There is an open window well approximately 30 inches deep on the front of the unit inside the fenced-in area and a small plastic pool with approximately 5 inches of water in it," Aurora Police Department Det. Christine Hurley wrote in the arrest affidavit.
She also said there was a plastic bottle of lighter fluid on the back patio step.
Pena told investigators she could see her children from the second floor of her condo through a window.
She also said she could both see and hear them as she used her computer, but detectives indicate that wasn't possible.
"Your affiant notes that is contradictory to what was observed at the scene," Hurley wrote in court documents.
Detectives say they asked Pena who was supposed to be supervising the children when they went outside and played.
"Karen Pena said, 'Well, it was me, obviously,'" Hurley wrote.
Pena says she last looked outside her bedroom window and saw her children on the sidewalk outside the fenced-in area about three minutes before her daughter was hit. Pena says, at that time, she told her kids to play inside the fence.
Investigators also noted the condo where they family lived was filthy, they noticed several plastic bags lying around on the floor of various rooms, the kitchen had dried food on the walls, refrigerator was full of out-of-date food, there were piles of dirty clothes on the floors of various bedrooms and the bathrooms were described as "unsanitary."
The affidavit also accounts numerous reports about Pena to social services. Neighbors told investigators they often saw the young children outside alone.
One neighbor said she asked the children once where their mother was, she was told, "She's on the computer." The same neighbor told investigators, "The mom is never around, she always just let's them play in the parking lot, kids running around with no shoes on, in their diapers, and the 12-year-old is doing everything. There are times I have told her, 'Go grab them some shoes, some pants and a diaper and Ill change their diaper, I'll put on their shoes and stuff so they can play down here.'"
Several neighbors also told investigators the children often had dirty diapers. They could tell because the diapers would hang down to the child's knees.
9NEWS spoke with Pena shortly after her daughter was killed.
"She [Laniece] was a very beautiful little girl, very outgoing. She could put a smile on anybody's face. She warmed everybody's heart," Pena said at the time.
Pena said Laniece was close to her siblings, especially to her older brother who is 3 years old.
Pena told 9NEWS she was inside the home when Laniece was outside.
"I told the kids to be inside the gated area," Pena told 9NEWS.
Five minutes after that, her daughter ran inside and told her to call 911, she says.
"I will have to live with that for the rest of my life. I could be blamed for this. I never let my kids out. I was not neglecting them," Pena said at the time.
The 15-passenger van belonged to Lakewood-based Kids Wheels and had just dropped off another child at a specialized learning program. The owner of Kids Wheels says the driver did not see Laniece.
The driver of the van which hit Laniece has not been charged with a crime.
According to the Arapahoe County Coroner, Laniece died of blunt force trauma to the head.
Have a comment or tip for investigative reporter Jace Larson? Call him at 303-871-1432 or e-mail him at
jace.larson@9news.com.
Blog and Bio
(KUSA-TV © 2011 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)