Arizona stepmother's chilling 911 calls after daughter was tortured to death

Daily Mail​

7 days ago

The stepmother accused of brutally torturing a 10-year-old girl to death called 911 three times before she died, it has emerged.
Rebekah Baptiste was found unresponsive in her Holbrook, Arizona home on July 27. She was battered, malnourished, and covered in bruises. She died in hospital three days later - with no family by her bedside.
Rebekah's father Richard Baptiste and his longtime girlfriend Anicia Woods have been charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping and three counts of child abuse in connection to the young girl's death.
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Woods called 911 on July 27 to report that she was taking her daughter - later identified as Rebekah - to an emergency medical service station because she was not breathing.
The stepmother, whose tone lacked a sense of urgency, claimed Rebekah suffered breathing problems after running away in the desert for a third time.
In subsequent calls, Woods oddly claimed she was 'breathing for Rebekah' and when asked by dispatch if she knew CPR, replied: 'Yes I do, unfortunately.'
Rebekah and her brothers lived with Baptiste and Woods in Phoenix until this summer when the family relocated to a yurt in Apache County, roughly 300 miles away from the capital city.
Prosecutors allege Rebekah was a victim of prolonged physical and sexual abuse.
Woods called emergency services on July 27 to report that her 'daughter' was found unresponsive and was struggling to breathe.
The chilling 911 calls, published by KPHO, reveal how Woods seemingly dodged the question when dispatch asked what was wrong with the young girl.
'She's been running away, but when she ran away today and the neighbor found her. She's just been completely unresponsive, I'm sitting here giving her breath,' Woods said.
'We're going towards Holbrook. We're told there's an EMS station in Holbrook,' she added before the call dropped.
The family's residence in the rural community of Hunt is located about 40 miles southeast of where the first 911 call was made.
Woods called back 17 minutes later and was asked if Rebekah was breathing.
'I'm breathing for her,' the stepmother replied, prompting the 911 operator to ask: 'What do you mean?'
'I am putting my mouth around hers and breathing in her mouth, yes,' Woods said.
Dispatch urged Woods to pull over so paramedics could get to them, but the call got disconnected again.
Woods called 911 for a third time and was instructed to begin administering CPR, but was seemingly reluctant.
'Have you got her to a flat ground? Solid ground?' the 911 operator asked.
'Yeah, well, she's in the car,' Woods replied.
'I need you to put her on the ground,' the dispatcher urged. Woods replied: 'On the rocks?'
'I need her on a flat ground so you can administer CPR,' the operator elaborated. Thirty seconds passed before the dispatcher asked: 'Do you know how to do the CPR?'
Woods, in a stoic tone, answered: 'Yes I do, unfortunately. I hear the EMS coming.'
The operator asked if Woods was 'wanting to start CPR or wait for EMS' but the stepmother said she was 'waiting for them because I'm giving her breaths'.
Rebekah died in the hospital three days later on July 30. Doctors said she was malnourished, dehydrated, and had been tortured.
Damon Hawkins, the girl's uncle, said she had two black eyes and was 'black and blue from her head to toe'.
Hawkins claims he made repeated reports to Arizona's Department of Child Safety (DCS), including allegations of sexual abuse.
He said Baptiste and Woods blocked him from seeing the children and made excuses to keep them isolated.
School officials at Empower College Prep in Phoenix - where Rebekah and her two younger brothers were enrolled until May - also claim the system failed the children.
Teachers, administrators, and outside service providers had all raised urgent concerns about visible bruises, signs of hunger, and the children's fear of going home.
Empower College Prep staff made a total of 13 reports to DCS expressing concern for the children's welfare.
School staff claim only four reports were assigned to investigators and none led to action.
'There are so many points where an intervention could have happened,' Natalia Mariscal, the school's director of student services, told AZ Family last week.
'I made it clear to the investigator and DCS that the system failed her,' Hawkins echoed. 'We have logs and logs of the times where, over the past years, they've been contacted, of the worry that we had.
'We got word of sexual abuse about a year and a half ago, and they [DCS] turned a blind eye to it.'
Baptiste and Woods are being held on $1million bond and are due back in court on September 4.
Empower College Prep administrators are scheduled to attend every court hearing and say they are determined to see justice served.
DCS issued a statement acknowledging Rebekah was 'a child who was known to the Department.'
'Any time a child in our community is harmed, it deeply affects us all,' the agency said.
'Our dedicated staff work tirelessly to ensure the safety of all children. Tragically, those who intend to harm children sometimes evade even the most robust systems designed to protect them.'
'The Department's Safety Analysis Review Team will also be conducting a thorough review of this case to identify and understand any systemic barriers that may have influenced the outcome, and to implement changes as necessary,' DCS added.
The young girl's case has also captured the attention of Arizona Gov3 Katie Hobbs, who vowed: 'We're certainly going to be investigating and if there was something that we did not do right, we will do everything we can to correct that.
'That is our job, it is our job to make sure Arizonans are safe and we'll fix what went wrong if that's the case.'