At 5:37 p.m. on Saturday, police were called to the La Quinta Inn by someone who said they learned secondhand a child may be unconscious and not breathing in a bathtub, according to a Bakersfield Police Department release.
Officers found the room and knocked. No one answered, and they forced their way inside.
The girl was found dead in the bathtub with “substantial trauma”. No one else was there.
Police said the investigation led them to 31-year-old Ray Mata Jr., and 27-year-old Graciela Bustamonte. They were arrested Sunday morning on suspicion of murder, torture and multiple counts of child abuse.
