Capital murder child abuse case highlights
who’s most vulnerable

SAN ANTONIO, TX  –  After sobering up at the hospital, the suspect police say was found intoxicated on a bed next to a four-year-old boy who had been beaten to death is now charged with capital murder.

Michael Arroyo, 32, is accused of murdering his girlfriend’s son, four-year-old Cash Briones.  The little boy had blunt force trauma to the head.

Arroyo is also charged with injuring his girlfriend’s two other children, ages one and three.

All three kids were left in his care February 16 at a Days Inn hotel on the city’s east side.

Arroyo is now being held on bonds worth more than a million dollars.

Child abuse cases rose sharply in Bexar County last year.  Counselors say single moms especially need to be aware of the dangers.

“The child is oftentimes left alone because the individual needs to work or needs to go to school or they’re trying to better themselves or just supply for their family,” says Randy McGibeny from ChildSafe.

He says that leaves room for someone who wants to do harm to gain a mother’s trust.

“If they’re capable of doing that, then oftentimes we’re going to open our doors to those individuals,” McGibeny says.

He says it’s incredibly common for a mother’s boyfriend to become the perpetrator.

“If there’s a situation where an individual that you’re dating or an individual that you’ve brought into your home is violent toward you – verbally or physically – know that the situation can progress,” McGibeny says.  “And oftentimes, if they’re violent toward you – they’re eventually going to be violent toward your children.”