Asuncion Avila-Villa

Case record: Asuncion Avila-Villa

Background

Asuncion “Suzie” Avila-Villa was a Hamilton mother accused of killing her infant son, Israel Santos. She was held in Butler County Jail in lieu of $1 million bond. Her children were being raised by her sisters, and two of her oldest daughters were permitted to visit with their mother before she was taken back to jail.

Avila-Villa had been on public assistance, and to keep getting it she was required to help identify the father. She had an appointment at Job and Family Services on Aug. 27, and social workers at the agency would have been required to report her unlawful sexual conduct with a minor to authorities. Prosecutors said she killed the baby to escape punishment for having sex with the underage male who fathered the child.

Avila-Villa invoked her right to remain silent when a judge began to ask about her competency to stand trial.

The offence

Avila-Villa was accused of aggravated murder of her infant son and of other felonies, including gross abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.

Court records and prosecutors alleged that she killed the child and threw his body in the trash behind her Shuler Avenue residence to cover up the crime. Prosecutors said she used a “gang-style burial” when she stuffed the infant’s body in a garbage can, and that the burial was intended to prevent the corpse from being found by police. Documents did not specify the items used in the alleged “gang-style burial,” except for pink flowers.

Investigators said the infant was found dead in a plastic bag in a garbage can last week behind Avila-Villa’s apartment building on Shuler Avenue. The child died from “extensive skull fracture with underlying brain injury,” according to a coroner report filed in court, and a coroner also said the baby died of a crushed skull. The child was malnourished, and the record included birth and death weight information: Israel weighed 9 pounds at death, and his birth weight was 8 pound 13 ounces.

Police said Avila-Villa reported that her boyfriend had kidnapped the child and she filed a missing-persons report. Authorities said the child was never missing and that she made the false report after killing her child and putting him in the trash.

Prosecutors alleged that Avila-Villa killed her baby to “escape detection, apprehension, trial or punishment” for having sex with the underage teen who fathered the child. In addition, prosecutors said she had an appointment with Job and Family Services that would have forced her to identify the baby’s father by providing his name and submitting to genetic testing or risk losing benefit payments.

The prosecution alleged Avila-Villa had sex with a 14-year-old boy on at least two occasions, once in October 2008 and once in November 2008.

Investigation

After investigators informed Avila-Villa that her baby had been found in trash they were sorting behind the police station, Avila-Villa first sat silently, then cried and told police she had shaken the infant’s head as he sat in his bouncy seat to try to stop him from crying.

Police said Avila-Villa denied causing any of the bruises or broken bones that investigators found on the child’s body. Prosecutors said the baby was buried along with items “consistent with a 'gang-style' burial intended to prevent the corpse from being found by police,” and the documents did not specify what those items were except for pink flowers.

A Detective Paul Davis testified at a hearing about her behavior after she reported the infant missing. Davis said when he interviewed Avila-Villa in August, he found her behavior “unusual,” and he said she was “very calm.” When Davis told her she was not acting like a mother whose child had been missing for 12 hours, Avila-Villa made an attempt at emotion. Davis said: “She didn’t really say anything, she forced out one tear and quit.”

Detective Mark Hayes testified that Avila-Villa failed a polygraph test at the Hamilton Police Department in the hours after she reported her child missing. When police told her they believed she was not telling the truth, Avila-Villa changed her story and admitted to police that she grabbed the infant by the face and shook him before he died.

Police said Avila-Villa told them she suffered from mental health issues and told Detective Paul Davis, “She said she was bipolar,” according to Davis’s testimony. Davis also said neighbors did not mention mental illness, but instead described her shortcomings as a mother, stating: “That she wasn’t a good mother at all. She was very abusive to the 3-year-old girl and the 3-year-old girl did everything around the house.”

Assistant Prosecutor Jason Phillabaum asked Davis if the mother’s unusual behavior “was appropriate for a murderer trying to cover up a crime.” Davis said: “I believe it was appropriate for that.”

Authorities said the search for the baby began after Avila-Villa called police on August 24 and that she tried to cover up what happened. Police said detectives worked the case all night before they found the baby in the garbage can on August 25.

Avila-Villa told a 911 dispatcher: “I was just calling ‘cause ... one of my ex boyfriends came to pick up one of my sons ... He said he was going to take him. He hasn't come back yet.”

Butler County Prosecutor Robin Piper said he would seek the death penalty and stated: “I can't remember in the history of Butler County another indictment when a woman was.... alleged to be the principal offender in a capital punishment case but the facts of this case warrant this indictment,” and he said: “She's trying to get rid of the baby so no one will discover that the father was under the age of 16.” Piper also stated: “It was inevitable that someone would have eventually found Villa out.”

Stephanie Boggs, who lived across the street and said she held Santos the week before he died, said: “I don't know the words to describe it. It's just gross.”

A coroner report stated Israel was wearing only a diaper, and several pink flowers were inside the plastic bag with his body.

Arrest and detention

Avila-Villa was arrested after she called 911 to report her son had been missing since Sunday from her apartment on Shuler Avenue in Hamilton. A judge set bond at $1 million for her in Hamilton Municipal Court. She stood silently before Judge Daniel Gattermeyer while Municipal Prosecutor Mary Dudley read the allegations.

When Gattermeyer asked whether she worked, Avila-Villa shook her head, “no.” When asked whether she was going to get an attorney or needed a court-appointed one, Avila-Villa replied, “I need one.” The record stated these were the only words she spoke during her time in court.

Trial and proceedings

Competency proceedings

Butler County Common Pleas Judge Andrew Nastoff declared Avila-Villa competent to stand trial.

Before the competency hearing, Avila-Villa invoked her right to remain silent when the judge began to ask about her competency to stand trial. The record stated that Avila-Villa told the judge on Feb. 3: “on advice of counsel, I invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege.”

Assistant Prosecutor Jason Phillabaum filed a motion requesting a competency evaluation. Phillabaum said the defense raised mental health issues and asked for a psychiatrist to aid in the defense, and he said he wanted to “clear the record” on Avila-Villa’s competency and requested a hearing.

During a hearing, defense attorney Chris Pagan said: “I have no concern about her ability to communicate with me ... but she has serious difficulty articulating the circumstance surrounding the issue.” Pagan also said Avila-Villa had a “significant mental health background.”

Nastoff said: ”I don't believe the issue of competency has been raised at this juncture.” The judge further stated: “The argument is 'absurd,' because the state and defense have not technically raised the issue of competency.”

Pagan told the judge the defense had not raised the issue of incompetence but was attempting to collect medical records to determine if that issue should be raised at all. The hearing was scheduled for Feb. 12.

Pre-trial hearings and legal motions

Court records showed that Avila-Villa’s lawyers challenged the constitutionality of Ohio’s death-penalty laws, and they asked a judge to keep reporters out of pre-trial hearings. Defense lawyers filed a 39-page argument alleging that executions were meted out unfairly when it comes to race and that “Ohio's death penalty scheme fails to ensure that arbitrary and discriminatory imposition of the death penalty will not occur.”

Prosecutors filed an 18-page response concluding: “Ohio's death penalty is constitutional, despite any alleged conflict with international law and specific treaties.”

Defense lawyers asked Nastoff to close pre-trial hearings, arguing that news coverage of pre-trial hearings could taint the jury pool by providing potential jurors with information that they should not possess. Prosecutors argued that court proceedings were generally expected to be public and saw no reason for closing the hearings.

Sentencing

After Avila-Villa pleaded guilty, the court sentenced her to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

At sentencing in Butler County Common Pleas Court, Avila-Villa cried as she spoke to her family before sentencing. The mother of four said: “Even if I am in prison I can still be their mother,” and “I hope when they grow up they will understand and they wouldn’t judge me for what I have done.”

The sentencing was described as part of a plea agreement in which her guilty pleas included admitting to three other felony charges, and she avoided the possibility of the death penalty.

Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said Avila-Villa’s mental health issues before, during and after her child’s death likely would be sufficient mitigation to avoid the death penalty at trial or in future appeals. Gmoser stated: “The complete admission of guilty across the board, coupled with her documented mental health issues, made this the right thing to do.”

Defense attorney Melynda Cook said she was “happy we were able to get this done for her.”

Appeals

By taking the plea, Avila-Villa gave up the right to appeal her case.

Outcome

Avila-Villa pleaded guilty to aggravated murder of her infant son Israel Santos. She also pleaded guilty to gross abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.

Aftermath

Avila-Villa was in the Butler County Jail after she told police the father of her son kidnapped 35-day-old Israel Santos, and she remained in custody at the time of later proceedings. Her children were being raised by her sisters. The family declined comment.