Stepdad killed 5-year-old and dumped her body in river, feds say. He’s going to prison
The body of 5-year-old Renezmae Calzada was dumped in the Rio Grande in New Mexico by her stepfather, who insisted for nearly four years that he didn’t brutally beat her to death, federal prosecutors said.
Now, Malcom Torres, 30, of Española, will spend the next three decades in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico.
Torres pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in connection with Renezmae’s death on April 10 after she died on Sept. 7, 2019, prosecutors said, McClatchy News previously reported.
That day, Torres was drinking excessively while watching Renezmae and his 18-month-old son at his home, according to prosecutors, who said he was “not fit to supervise the children.”
Torres beat and killed Renezmae, then the next day, he told the girl’s grandparents she disappeared and refused to cooperate in the law enforcement investigation that followed, prosecutors said.
However, on Sept. 8, 2019, he actually drove to the Rio Grande and dropped her body in the water before returning to his home, which was about 5 miles away, according to prosecutors.
After an Amber Alert was sent out to every New Mexico resident’s cellphone, authorities recovered Renezmae’s body from the river on Sept. 11, 2019, according to court documents. Officials concluded she died from “blunt-force trauma to her head, torso, and extremities,” prosecutors said.
Four years later, a judge sentenced Torres to 35 years in prison, the attorney’s office announced in an Oct. 30 news release.
“I want you to know I have no compassion for you, none,” Renezmae’s aunt Henrietta Gaines told Torres at his sentencing hearing, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.
“I hope every time you close your eyes you see Renezmae. I hope you are haunted every single day for the rest of your life,” Gaines said, the newspaper reported.
McClatchy News contacted federal public defenders who represented Torres in the case and didn’t receive an immediate response.
Renezmae loved and ‘hugged everyone she met’
In Torres’ sentencing memo submitted by the government ahead of his sentencing hearing, prosecutors first honored Renezmae’s memory and recalled her life, as described by her loved ones.
“According to her mother, (Renezmae) loved everyone. She hugged everyone she met and considered everyone to be part of her extended family. (Renezmae’s) brother was among her best friends,” the sentencing memo says.
Renezmae loved playing with her younger brother and always took Mister Bear, her stuffed animal, with her wherever she went, according to the sentencing memo.
She adored the princess movies “Frozen” and “Sofia the First,” Barbie dolls, anything pink and dresses, the sentencing memo says.
Renezmae also “often wore American flag clothes, cowboy hats, and cowboy boots” and “liked watching scary movies,” as her mother “remembers fondly how (Renezmae) moved seamlessly from tomboy to girly girl,” prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memo.
The girl and her beloved stuffed bear are honored in a brightly colored mural painted by Española artists on the exterior of a local fire station, the sentencing memo says.
‘Killed a defenseless child’
Torres ultimately told investigators he was “too drunk to remember” beating his stepdaughter, officials said, McClatchy News previously reported.
He has a “lengthy” criminal history dating back to when he was 13, prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memo.
Several of his crimes “involve alcohol” and “crimes of violence directed at those he purports to care for,” prosecutors said.
He “committed arguably the most heinous offense one can commit in our civilized society — he killed a defenseless child,” prosecutors wrote, arguing for a significant sentence for Torres.
Torres’ sentencing guidelines were calculated at 30 years to 30 years and five months in prison, the release said.
He agreed to the lengthier sentence of 35 years in exchange for the government to “forgo a charge of first-degree felony murder, which carried a potential penalty of life imprisonment or death,” prosecutors said in the release.
At his sentencing hearing, Renezmae’s mother was the last of dozens of family members to address Torres in court, according to the Sante Fe New Mexican.
“I knew nothing about being a mother, and I wasn’t the best, either, but I tried,” Victoria Maestas said while sobbing, the newspaper reported. “I can’t entirely blame you because I should have made better choices for myself.
“I want to hate you so much. But I see our son and I see you in him in every way. ... It breaks my heart to tell him his sister is never coming back and that she is in heaven with the stars.”
“I would have taken her place if I could,” Maestas added, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican.
Torres told her “words can’t express how sorry I am. I let (my young son) down. I let Renezmae down. I let you down. Sorry,” according to the outlet.
Torres’ prison sentence will be followed by five years of supervised release, according to prosecutors.
Española is about 25 miles northwest of Santa Fe.
If you or a loved one shows signs of substance use disorder, you can seek help by calling the national hotline at 1-800-662-4357 or find treatment using SAMHSA's online locator.
Letter found under burned woman’s body points to aunt’s boyfriend, Florida cops say
Beloved third grade teacher shot to death by her estranged husband, Georgia cops say
Missing 5-year-old boy found dead in dumpster, Wisconsin cops say. Two arrests made
