Trigger Warning: This article contains references to the alleged child physical abuse that some readers may find distressing.

A California mother and her boyfriend were sentenced to more than a decade in prison for the horrific murder of one-year-old Henry Wheatley-Brown. The incident unfolded on September 30, 2023, when Samantha Garver’s boyfriend Sergio Mena was looking after the boy.

He was supposed to give the infant a bath in their Santa Barbara Ave. home in Sugarloaf, California. Mena placed the toddler in a “scalding” hot bath and left him unattended to buy me–. When he returned, he heard Wheatley-Browncrying due to extensive burns on his body, according to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office. Yet, he did not take any action to ease the infant’s suffering and simply called Garver, who returned in the evening.

The couple reportedly did not take the boy to the hospital and used over-the-counter burn ointment, which did not help Wheatley-Brown at all. The next day, they called the emergency services when the toddler had shallow breathing. When the paramedics arrived, they found the toddler without a pulse, ice cold and dehydrated, and later pronounced him dead.

Medical experts found proof of consistent physical abuse after examining his body in an autopsy. There were reportedly multiple bone fractures in both arms apart from the recent second- and third-degree burns. Prosecutors in the court noted, “Despite Henry’s extensive and life-threatening injuries, neither defendant sought medical care, instead attempting to treat the burns with over-the-counter ointment.”

Physical abuse was normalized in the family, as heard in the one-year-old’s grandmother’s statement, who said, “I got abused as a kid, and I got hit as a baby, and I turned out fine.”

Wheatley-Brown’s older siblings also went through the same child abuse, prompting the San Bernardino County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to get involved in the case. The mother had asked on Facebook, “(If) duct taping a child’s mouth is abusive?”

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A post shared by Law & Crime (@lawandcrime)

Moreover, she had told the DCFS staff that she wanted to put a pillow on one of the kids’ faces to stop their constant crying. Some investigators on the case concluded all the children in their home faced high-risk abuse.

The couple entered guilty pleas on charges of child abuse causing great bodily harm and second-degree murder. Mena was sentenced to 21 years in prison, and Garver received a shorter 14-year sentence.

The district attorney’s office wrote in a statement, “Although nothing can bring back baby Henry or erase the suffering he endured, today’s sentences deliver justice and ensure these defendants will never again harm a child. The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office will honor Henry’s memory by never forgetting him and by continuing to fight for vulnerable children.”

Disclaimer: The Inquisitr could not independently confirm the facts of this incident and is reporting based on the information available within the public record.