A judge on Thursday ordered accused child-killer Edwin Urbina held in prison pending trial, asserting it would be “highly inappropriate” to release him given the “disturbing” nature of the alleged crime and Urbina’s purported attempts to cover it up.
“It appears that a defenseless child was subjected to gross traumatic injury and died,” and Urbina and his girlfriend, mother of the 3-year-old boy, then tried to cover their tracks and mislead hospital staff and authorities, Superior Court Judge Thomas Critchley Jr. said during a half-hour virtual detention hearing.
Arguing for house arrest and electronic monitoring of Urbina, Public Defender Sharon Bittner Kean acknowledged the tragic death but contended “there is zero evidence that the cause of that death was a knowing and purposeful murder.”
Based partly on a statement from the boy’s 5-year-old sister, authorities say Urbina, 27, of Morristown, fatally beat the child in the early hours of Aug. 13, 2021, at the Oyo Hotel in East Hanover, where they were living.
The children’s mother, 28-year-old Krystal Straw, was working a night shift at a QuickChek when the incident occurred, according to authorities. When Shaw came home, they say, she spent two hours packing Urbina’s belongings and drove him to a Morristown location before taking the children to Morristown Medical Center around 5 am.
At that point, the boy–believed to be named Liam, although identities refer to him as “XX”– was unresponsive. He was pronounced dead shortly afterwards. The Morris County Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide, reporting multiple bruises as well as pre-existing injuries to the boy’s ribs and wrist.
At the hospital, Straw allegedly told her daughter not to say anything and, at Urbina’s direction, denied his presence at the hotel and deleted his contact information and text messages from her mobile phone.
Urbina surrendered to law enforcement in Morristown on Aug. 17. He is charged with first-degree murder, second-degree child endangerment, third-degree witness tampering, and fourth-degree evidence tampering.
Straw is charged with child endangerment, obstruction and tampering with evidence. She has pleaded not guilty. Both are being held in the Morris County Jail, where Urbina, wearing a mask, quietly watched Thursday’s proceeding via a video hookup.
‘DEPRAVED CRIME’
Kean, Urbina’s public defender, disputed the murder and endangerment charges. The prosecution has not provided an autopsy report, and the 5-year-old’s 40-minute statement to police is inconsistent, she said.
The sister emphatically told police she was asleep and did not witness what happened to her brother, according to Kean.
But the attorney said other parts of the little girl’s statement corroborated the mother’s story: Straw awakened to the sound of the boy’s labored breathing, found him covered in vomit, attempted chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and then slipped on a wet floor in the hotel bathroom.
Urbina’s voluntary surrender demonstrates he “fully intends to vigorously contest these charges,” Kean said.
Raised in Morristown, Urbina is unemployed and lacks resources to flee, Kean said, suggesting he could stay under house arrest with family on Clyde Potts Drive, “a few blocks from the courthouse,” pending trial.
Morris County Assistant Prosecutor Tara Wang argued vigorously against Urbina’s release.
Facing a potential life sentence, Urbina is a high risk to flee and is a threat to others, Wang said, citing his “history of violence and his utter disregard for the well being of others,” and his alleged efforts to “cover up his depraved crime.”
“I have difficulty putting into words the extent of the inhumanity displayed by this defendant,” Wang said.
Urbina’s record includes possession of a weapon as a juvenile in 2009, probation violations in 2013 and 2014, and convictions for robberies in Sussex and Morris counties in 2016 and 2017, Wang said.
Sentenced to three years in prison for each robbery, Urbina served those terms concurrently and was released last December.
The medical examiner’s final report still is pending, Wang said. Judge Critchley, a former prosecutor, said that’s not unusual; laboratory test results take time. He said he did not need that documentation to render Thursday’s ruling.
“I find there is substantial, perhaps, overwhelming evidence to support a finding of probable cause for all of the charges,” Critchley said.
