Robert Quiroz
Marine held in infant son�s death:
I’m sure a lot of you have heard this story by now�
FRESNO, Calif. - A young Marine who was called back from a mission to Iraq to be with his ailing wife just before she died of childbirth complications was arrested on suspicion of murdering his newborn son.
Authorities did not disclose a motive for the slaying, but the Marine, 20-year-old Robert Quiroz, told a TV station in September that he felt overwhelmed as a single parent of two and struggled to accept his son.
Quiroz was jailed on Monday. Investigators said his son died of beating injuries, but they would not elaborate. Authorities planned to file charges Wednesday.
After the infant�s death on Saturday, authorities took Quiroz�s 18-month-old daughter into protective custody.
In August, Quiroz deployed to a training camp in Kuwait with the Ninth Communication Battalion from Camp Pendleton. He was called home three days later with the news that his wife had given birth to a boy, but had suffered an aneurysm after breast feeding the child.
Quiroz arrived in Fresno faced with ending her life support and assuming sole responsibility for their two children.
Quiroz�s Web page on MySpace.com, posted under the screen name �I.MISS.HER,� appears to have been an outlet for his loss.
�On August 21, 2006, my whole world ended. For those of you who don�t know, my beautiful wife Candice died,� reads Quiroz�s site. �Just because you see me smile and you see me laugh doesn�t come close to the way I feel inside. I will never be as happy as I was until I�m with my wife again.�
Police had started a child abuse investigation in October after Quiroz�s son was hospitalized for a broken arm. The infant was placed in protective custody, but the county Department of Children and Family Services released him to his father after a few days, police said.
Child welfare officials said they would investigate why the baby was returned to his father.
Thanks to Mandy we have Quiroz’s MySpace. It’s even more disturbing then they make out in the article.
Related Stories
POSTED IN: Killers
11 opinions for Robert Quiroz
LieparDestin
Nov 22, 2006 at 2:20 pm
A sad story all around.
Anonymous
Nov 22, 2006 at 6:57 pm
This must be one of THE saddest things I’ve ever heard. Looking at his page he obviously loved his wife so much. I know it’s wrong but I feel sorry for him in a way. That poor little girl that was left behind, I hope she has someone to love her like her mommy loved her.
Army wife
Nov 26, 2006 at 9:54 pm
I actually cried when I read this. My husband’s in Afghanistan, and he made it back for my son’s birth in May, but the amount of guilt he feels about missing these last 7 months is terrible. I can’t imagine how it must have affected him to have gone through that, and it is so sad that they returned that little girl to him. I feel so, so sorry for him. My husband feels an incredible amount of guilt when I have a headache and isn’t here for me- I know that if he missed my death and had to return to my body, he would never ever recover. The saddest part to me is that they gave this baby back to him and didn’t get this man and his children the help they needed. He obviously loved his wife so much. Saddest thing I’ve seen in a long, long time.
Mandy
Nov 28, 2006 at 12:13 pm
Update-
http://www.courttv.com/news/2006/1128/marine_ap.html
I felt so bad for this guy and his family until i read this article. It’s obvious that he could not accept his son and blamed the child for the mothers death.
Unfortunetly the child payed the price. I am not blaming him (the father) for this, the circumstances overwhelmed him and he snapped. He lost his mind. I don’t believe he even had a chance to grieve. I believe he went insane(for lack of a better term)
BUT this new article is avoiding the issue at hand and trying to portray him as “ok” and that it was a horrible mistake. While I truly believe when this happened he was out of his mind, it’s like he now knows he is in trouble and is trying to mask it as a mistake.
An awful thing happened because of circumstances beyond control and i hope and pray that they realize that he is not some sadistic child killer but a broken man with mental issues. He needs help and he needs to take responsibilty as his first step to get that help. And thats not a bad thing.
Patrick
Nov 28, 2006 at 3:30 pm
I think this is a sad situation god bless you Robert Quiroz and, your family. We know you loved your KIDS and, family with everything you had Robert, I believe in you. You are in my prayers every day and, night. AMEN
blank
Nov 28, 2006 at 4:57 pm
i personally knew robert..we were pretty close senior year..he didnt seem the type to do something like this. i feel so sorry for his family and i hope that roman recieves the justice he deserves.
Anonymous
Nov 29, 2006 at 6:47 am
this is such a trageady i dont know what to believe, i couldnt even sleep to the thought of this, my hearts goes out to baby roman & his sister. god bless
Paige
Dec 5, 2006 at 8:32 am
I feel so bad for Robert. But he did step up and admit to what he had done. I think it’s obivous that he love his child(s). I think it was an accident. Maybe he was just under alot of stress and was thinking clearly or wasn’t paying good enough attention to what he was doing. But what I didn’t understande is when I read about this it said he didn’t return to check on his son for 20 minutes. Now that I didn’t like because the boy was 3-months-old you dont leave a 3-month-old alone, especially with a bottle in it’s mouth. But what’s really sad is that the daughter dont have a mother or father and just lost her little brother!
Angie
Dec 5, 2006 at 8:37 am
This a very sad and bad situation for you Robert. I feel so sorry for you Robert. When me and my group read about this in our Journalism class I swear I almost cried. I do believe that it was an accident.
I can’t imagine all the guilt Robert feels.
God bless you and your family
blank
Apr 7, 2007 at 8:54 pm
i knew him from high school and he was a good guy, i remember him bringing in pictures of his first daughter and i do feel sorry for him, i pray for him and hope that everything turns out great. my prayers are mostly with their baby girl. to grow up without anyone is the worst thing that could happen. i hope this doesnt affect her later in life and i pray she will always have someone with her and to be there for her, and for roman and candice, i hope you two are there with god and are watching over your daughter/sister to make sure shes ok. i think it was an accident and i leave it in gods hands. but ill pray that justice is served whatever it might be.
i hope their family will be there for him and his daughter, to the family: you are all in my prayers
mari
Jul 17, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Give me a break. How does accidentally hitting a baby head on a couch cause enough injuries to make his brain swell and kill him. This child was beat. It would also take alot to break a babys arm since their bones are almost like rubber. I do believe he was mentally unstable, but this didn’t happen because of a small bump on the couch. He needs to fess up to what he did and get help. Admitting what he did is the first step to dealing with this.
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: