Murder charges filed against caregivers accused of killing toddler in Moorhead
From left: Rosa Garza, also known as Mason Garza; and Shiann Erickson. (Clay County Sheriff's Office)
Two caregivers accused of causing a toddler’s death in Moorhead earlier this year are now facing murder charges.
Court records show 24-year-old Rosa Garza — also known as Mason Garza — and 22-year-old Shiann Erickson, both of Moorhead, are each charged with one count of second-degree murder in connection with the death of 3-year-old Easton Deronjic.
According to a criminal complaint, officers were called to a report of a 3-year-old boy who wasn’t breathing on March 18. The child’s body was bruised he couldn’t keep food down. Deronjic was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
The boy’s mother told police she had left her two children in the care of Garza and his girlfriend, Erickson, starting in August because of “personal issues.”
Erickson said Garza had assaulted her and the child in the past and said the boy had been sick for about a day and a half before his death.
An autopsy of the child revealed he had suffered 28 blunt-force injuries. The medical examiner ruled the boy died of a homicide from a torn bowel due to an assault.