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Court told details of the night baby died

The father is on trial a time for murder, accused of shaking the infant to death on Christmas Eve.

By ALEXANDRA ZAYAS
Published March 8, 2006

TAMPA - Doug Ashley, 43, and his mother's boyfriend were decorating their West Tampa home on Christmas Eve 2003 when a neighbor boy ran up to them and changed their plans, Ashley testified Tuesday in Hillsborough County Court.

A neighbor needed help, the boy said. They rushed to the apartment building across the street.

Inside, Anibal Angel Rios, then 19, held his 3-month-old son in his arm and cried hysterically into a phone.

"My baby's not breathing!" Rios told a 911 operator.

Then, Ashley caught a glimpse of the baby's face. His open eyes were blank and dilated. Blood caked his mouth and nose.

Shaken baby syndrome, Dr. William Norberg determined at St. Joseph's Children's Hospital later that day, after finding ruptured blood vessels in the infant's eyes, a sign of violent shaking. The baby died at St. Joseph's hours later.

Rios, 21, stands trial this week on first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse charges in the death of his son, Victor Smith.

The case was originally heard in May but ended with a mistrial when a jury could not arrive at a verdict.

Last month, while awaiting retrial, Rios was charged with smuggling cocaine into jail. He has been arrested at least 10 times for burglary, grand theft and forgery.

He did not even know he had a son until Victor was 2 or 3 weeks old, the baby's mother, 26-year-old Jacqueline Santiago, testified Tuesday. She thought Rios was too immature to be a father. A kid raising a kid, she said.

She originally told Rios she'd had a miscarriage. Later, she admitted she had given the baby to a neighbor to raise. After Rios learned his son was alive, he wanted to be a father to Victor.

Rios, Santiago, the baby and Santiago's two older children moved into one bedroom of a two-bedroom apartment rented by Rios' sister. Santiago worked nights, and Rios became a full-time dad to Victor and the two other kids, she said.

Rios had cared for Victor after he was hospitalized earlier that month with respiratory problems. He gave the baby nebulizer treatments twice a day, Santiago said.

Victor cried often, but Rios would pace around with the baby, patiently trying to feed him, Santiago said.

Tampa police homicide detectives think Rios left Victor on a mound of blankets and pillows while taking a shower that afternoon. The baby started crying. Rios got out of the shower and offered the boy a bottle, but Victor refused to take it. Rios grew frustrated and shook the baby, authorities allege.

The defense will try to prove the baby died of complications from past respiratory problems.

Rios sat attentively and showed no emotion when Santiago broke down in tears on the witness stand, giving the timeline of that Christmas Eve night, and the hours she spent waiting to see her son.

She had seen him that morning before she left for her ex-mother-in-law's house with her two other kids. She changed his diaper, and left him sleeping.

Prosecutor Rita Peters asked when she next saw him.

"When he was already dead," Santiago said, as she lowered her head into her hands.

Times researcher Angie Holan contributed to this report. Alexandra Zayas can be reached at 813 226-3354 or azayas@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 8, 2006, 01:41:06]