3 family members charged in death of 6-year-old in Reading, Pennsylvania, DA says

READING, Pa. (CBS) — Three family members were charged for the death of a 6-year-old girl in Reading after she was locked in a room for more than three days, the Berks County District Attorney’s Office said on Monday. 

The 6-year-old’s grandparents — Jazmine A. Rodriguez and Manuel Rodriguez Sr. — and her uncle, Manuel Rodriguez Jr., were charged with criminal homicide, false imprisonment, endangering the welfare of a child and other related offenses. The DA’s office said the grandparents were taken into custody on Monday, but Rodriguez Jr. remains at large. 

On May 28, the DA’s office said the Reading Police Department responded to a home on Schuylkill Avenue for a report of a 6-year-old girl in cardiac arrest. Once officers arrived on the scene, it appeared the 6-year-old girl was dead for a “period of time,” the DA’s office said. 

According to the DA’s office, an autopsy revealed the 6-year-old died due to dehydration and “prolonged exposure to high ambient temperature due to child neglect.” Her death was ruled a homicide. 

“The condition of the victim at the time of her death is consistent with the victim being locked in the room for more than 3 days,” the DA’s office wrote in a press release. 

The 6-year-old was also wearing a soiled diaper for several days before her death, which led to a severe diaper rash, the DA’s office said. The lack of air circulation in the room where the 6-year-old was sleeping may have reached 100 degrees with 90% humidity. According to an affidavit, the bedroom where the 6-year-old was found dead had a lock on the outside of the door. 

Police obtained a search warrant for Jazmine and Manuel Rodriguez Sr.’s cellphone during the investigation. According to an affidavit, Jazmine Rodriguez’s cellphone revealed searches of “how to abandon a 6-year-old girl.”

According to the affidavit, a witness who spent time at the house told investigators that the 6-year-old girl would have to come home from school and stand in the corner and face the wall. The affidavit says she would stay there until Jazmine Rodriguez would come home. If the 6-year-old had to use the bathroom, she would be escorted to the restroom, an affidavit said. 

The witness told police the 6-year-old “did not have access to water or food because the family did not want her having to use the bathroom,” an affidavit said. The witness also told investigators that Jazmine and Manuel Rodriguez Sr. would take turns watching her on a monitor while she was inside the bedroom. 

The Reading School District released a statement about the 6-year-old’s death. 

“The child previously attended school in our district during the 2021-22 school year and parts of the 2022-23 school year. While she did not attend school in RSD last school year, some of our students and staff got to know her during her time with us,” Dr. Jennifer Murray, the Reading School District superintendent, wrote in a statement. “We urge anyone in our community with knowledge about a child in harm’s way to report it.”