Report: Child died from violent abuse

PERALTA, N.M. (KRQE) - Investigators believe the 3-year-old boy killed in his Valencia County home died when his stepfather slammed the boy's head to the floor, according to court documents filed Tuesday.

Michael Montiel was found dead Monday in the master bedroom of a home in Peralta. The boy's stepfather, Michael Perea, 21, was arrested and charged with child abuse resulting in death.

Perea "became angry and picked up the baby's head and slammed it into the floor once," according to the court documents. Investigators reported finding "a round indentation approximately eight inches wide" on the floor.

Perea admitted killing the child, New Mexico State Police reported.

KRQE News 13 has learned Perea and the boy's mother, Andrea Otero, who married earlier this month, have a violent criminal history.

Nearly three weeks ago a grand jury indicted Otero on child abuse, aggravated assault and DWI charges for allegedly driving drunk with a child in the car and ramming a car driven by the child's father. Perea's criminal history that includes arrests for battery, aggravated assault and shooting at a building.

A Children, Youth and Families Department spokesperson said the agency has never taken the children from the couple before but did confirm the state has investigated them for child abuse in the past.

After Monday's incident, the state put two of Otero's kids in foster care. Two others are with relatives.

Bosque Farms police said they've been to the couple's house numerous times and were at the house three days before the child's death for a domestic-violence call.