Rudy Requejo-Ybarra Jr: Nebraska mom Brittany Cook and BF arrested after 22-month-old son found brain dead
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA: A mother, identified as Brittany Cook, and her boyfriend Joshua Tackett were taken into custody by police after the death of 22-month-old, Rudy Requejo-Ybarra Jr, who died on March 17 at an Omaha hospital after being declared brain dead on March 15. The Lincoln Police Department said the 31-year-old mother was arrested on Tuesday, March 21, and got booked in the Lancaster County Jail for child abuse. She is being held on a $1 million bond, while her boyfriend of two months was arrested on March 14 and faces charges of child abuse and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person after police found a gun in his apartment.
According to Lincoln Journal Star, the investigation into the case began on March 12, when the mother-of-four got her unconscious son to CHI Health St Elizabeth "with numerous bruises and injuries" and where doctors informed the child had "severe brain swelling and bleeding, retinal hemorrhaging in both eyes, several broken ribs, injuries to his genital area and two fractures to his left tibia," said Lincoln Police Investigator Michael Barry in the affidavit for Brittany's arrest. The child had bruises "all over his body" and had "pattern injuries" on his face and chest, which officials later matched to the grill of a space heater that Brittany had left on just next to Rudy when she went to take a shower on March 11.
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No brain activity on March 15
The mother cited several incidents as she explained the injuries on her son's body, including an injury from February 18. The mother claimed the boyfriend had "passed out" while holding the boy and fell on top of him. Talking about an incident on March 9, she said her son fell down a staircase at her boyfriend's apartment, near Seventh and G streets, where she moved her four children aged 3, 4, and 10, and claimed the child seemed uninjured from the fall. The investigator said, "Despite noticing these injuries, [Brittany] continued to leave (her son) in the care of [Joshua]."
On March 12, Brittany put her child down for a nap and came back to find him unresponsive, reports Omaha World-Herald. That is when she rushed the child to the hospital. However, on March 15, the doctors informed that there was no brain activity. And after two days, he was removed from life support and was pronounced dead.
Who was Rudy Requejo-Ybarra Jr?
Talking about the child, Rudy's grandmother Cassandra said, “He would bounce around and screech and laugh. He had the most beautiful contagious bright smile, sometimes it’d be a little crooked. I used to like seeing that.” She narrated how he loved playing a special spoon game with his father, and had a tight bond with his 8-year-old sister. She said he was deaf. “I wanted him to be able to feel my voice or hear me. And so I would take his hand and I would put it on my throat or put it up my lips. And I would talk to him. Sometimes I’d reach my finger out and he’d grab it.” Cassandra said the child would have turned two on April 19.
Both Brittany and Joshua will appear in court on April 20. Brittany has been ordered not to have contact with any children under 18. Her other children have been taken into state custody. An investigation is ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to call Lincoln Police at 402-441-6000 or Crime Stoppers at 402-475-3600.