‘I never meant to kill him,’ suspect in boy’s death tells police

IOWA CITY - Hours after being arrested in connection with the April 30 death of a 20-month-old boy, an Iowa City couple made their first appearance in a Johnson County courtroom Monday and the boyfriend denied police accusations that he'd abused the toddler until he eventually died.

“They're lying. Making up (expletive),” said Jorge Perez, 20, of Iowa City, who faces two counts of child endangerment resulting in death - one for a series of assaults that police say led to the death of Marcus Balderas, and one for the suspected acts on April 30 that authorities say finally took the child's life.

Mireya Balderas, the boy's 18-year-old mother, also was arrested Sunday on suspicion of one count of child endangerment resulting in death on accusations she participated in the abuse.

A judge on Monday set bond in their cases at $1 million for Balderas and $2 million for Perez. If convicted, they could face 50 years in prison on each count.

Investigators said they don't plan to file additional charges against Perez and Balderas, and they don't expect to make any more arrests in connection with Marcus' case. But because three other small children and two or three other adults - depending on the time frame - were living in the mobile home at 2018 Waterfront Dr., No. 120, with Perez and Balderas, the Iowa Department of Human Services is looking into whether more abuse occurred, Iowa City police Lt. Doug Hart said.

A DHS spokesman said the agency can't discuss details of cases being assessed because of privacy laws. But Hart said three children - who range in age from toddler to child - were removed from the home on the day Marcus died.

“I think some of the other things we observed made it appropriate for them to be removed from the house,” he said.

During their interviews with police, Perez and Balderas both confessed to a pattern of abuse against Marcus, according to an Iowa City police complaint. Perez told investigators he'd hit Marcus, held a pillow over his face and thrown him to the ground, according to police.

Perez, according to the complaint, said, “I never meant to kill him. It was just an accident.”

But Hart said he also admitted to committing “an intentional act that would be considered abuse” on the day Marcus died.

“Marcus was exhibiting normal behavior the morning of April 30 - prior to coming into the care and custody of Jorge,” Hart said. “An event occurred, which we do have an account for, which led to Marcus' death.”

According to the criminal complaint, Balderas' mother warned her to leave Perez if she knew he was beating the boy. Balderas told police, according to the complaint, that she chose Perez over her child and should have told him to stop but didn't want to fight.

On the day Marcus died, emergency personnel responded to the mobile home after a 911 caller reported a baby with difficulty breathing. A medical examination showed that Marcus had broken ribs, bruises on his head, face, back and stomach, internal injuries and subdural bleeding in his head when he died.

The manner of death was ruled as homicide. The cause was ruled as blunt force injuries in the head.

Before Sunday's arrests, Perez was already being held in the Johnson County Jail on suspicion of child endangerment without injury. In that case, he was accused of leaving Marcus home alone on April 25, five days before he died.

According to an earlier police complaint, Perez told a DHS worker that he left the toddler home alone for 20 minutes because he was rushed to get to school.

Perez, according to the complaint, didn't seem concerned about the lack of supervision, but the DHS didn't find any signs of physical abuse warranting an immediate call to police or removal of the child from the home, Hart said.

Perez was arrested in connection with the April 25 incident on May 1, after Marcus died.

“There is nothing (the DHS) could have or should have done different with the information presented at that time,” Hart said. “They did everything appropriately. There were no grounds for Marcus to be removed at that time.”