20-month-old had bruises all over body before dying, MN cops say. Mom charged
_fitted.png "Jose Zamora was 20 months old when he died from complications of blunt force trauma, officials said. His mother is charged with second-degree murder.")
A Minnesota woman was arrested in connection with the death of her 20-month-old son.
Valerie Connie Zamora, 32, is charged with second-degree murder, according to a news release from the city of Moorhead.
Attorney information for Zamora was not available.
On May 15, Zamora took her son Jose Zamora to a hospital in Cass County, according to a criminal complaint. Shortly after, Jose was pronounced dead, despite attempts to save him.
Authorities were called after hospital staff noticed bruising on Jose’s body, the complaint said.
Zamora told detectives that the morning of May 15, Jose woke up vomiting and “basically” slept all day, court records said. She said he wasn’t acting like himself and was “breathing differently,” according to the complaint.
She said she told another person she lived with that they should take Jose to a hospital, but they decided to go to Walmart first, the complaint said. They got to Walmart around 10:12 p.m. and Zamora went inside and left Jose in the car with the other person. Then, the other person came into the store and told her Jose was vomiting blood, according to the court records.
Zamora told detectives they then “sped” to the hospital. She said she knew about the bruising but that Jose bruised easily and she didn’t let anyone else around him, the complaint said.
Several people told Zamora throughout that day that she should take Jose to a hospital, with one person telling her that as she held Jose he was “struggling to breathe and cold,” according to court records. However, Zamora told them she would take Jose when the other person she lived with got home, the complaint said.
An autopsy showed Jose had contusions to his abdomen, head, face, jaw/neck, chest, arm, back and legs, along with a perforated bowel and hemorrhages to his liver and pancreas, according to the complaint. He had healing rib fractures and his cause of death was listed as complications of blunt force injuries.
During an interview with detectives, Zamora told authorities she did not hurt Jose but she didn’t take him to get medical help because it was “obviously neglect” and she was scared her children would be taken away, court records said.
When Jose was taken to the hospital, he was “pale, clammy, cold and pulseless,” according to the complaint.
Zamora was arrested in Fargo and is being held at the Cass County Jail until she can be extradited back to Moorhead.
This story was originally published May 28, 2025 at 7:21 AM with the headline "20-month-old had bruises all over body before dying, MN cops say. Mom charged."
