A San Diego mother charged with the murder of her 9-month-old son maintained her innocence in an exclusive jailhouse interview with NBC 7 Wednesday night, saying she did not kill her baby.
Guadalupe O’Campos, 32, sits at the Las Colinas Detention facility charged with the Sept. 5, 2013, murder of her baby boy, Kevin Machado. She was arrested last week, more than a year after the death.
O’Campos agreed to a jailhouse interview with NBC 7. Minutes into the interview, she broke down crying saying she is not a killer.
“I haven't done anything. I didn't do anything to my son,” O’Campos, who speaks only Spanish, said through a translator.
O’Campos said her son’s death, to her understanding, was an accident. She said she’s also confused by some of the findings revealed in her baby’s autopsy report.
Local
NBC 7 obtained that report of baby Kevin’s death.
It shows O’Campos and the baby’s father reported two falls - one on Sept. 3, 2013, and one on Sept. 5, 2013, which is the day the baby died.
According to the family, the baby fell off a bed both times in their City Heights home and later passed away at Rady Children’s Hospital.
The autopsy report also mentioned: “The other short distance fall reported to have occurred days prior is also inconsistent with the acute and organized hemorrhages, with areas of organization estimated to be a few weeks old.”
Those details combined with inconsistent reports from O'Campos and the baby's father led a deputy medical examiner to determine the death was a homicide.
The mother said she still doesn’t understand how that conclusion came about.
“That's what I want to know because I want to know where did they get that information?” O’Campos told NBC 7. “Where did he get that head injury? I want to know.”
During the jailhouse interview, O’Campos admitted to the earlier fall but said her son never hit the ground.
“The baby didn't fall completely. He got stuck between the closet and the bed. He never hit the floor. That was the first time. We always put a pillow next to the bed,” she explained.
O’Campos’ teenage daughter, who was at the home during the alleged second fall, told NBC 7 it was actually the baby's father who was on the bed with the child. She said O’Campos was in the kitchen.
O’Campos confirmed her current husband was there when the baby fell both on occasions. She said they remain married and he is currently at home.
O’Campos is now eight months pregnant with her seventh child.
“I have suffered a lot. I have suffered my son's death. God knows how I've been living with this,” she said, sobbing. “That's why I got pregnant again - to ease my pain.”
NBC 7 reached out to the San Diego County District Attorney’s office about O’Campos’ case. In an email, officials said:
"Since this is a pending case, we are not able to comment directly on the case. The District Attorney's Office can only file criminal charges when we believe we can prove them beyond a reasonable doubt."
O’Campos pleaded not guilty to the murder charge at her arraignment last month. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 9.
The mother said she’s prepared to explain everything in court.
