MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas— Three people have been charged in connection with the death of a 3-year-old boy whose blended family had been investigated multiple times by child welfare officials.

Montgomery County sheriff’s deputies, responding to a call, found the boy not breathing Monday night at his home in Conroe. The boy, whose name was not released, was pronounced dead at St. Luke’s Hospital in The Woodlands.

His aunt and primary caretaker, 26-year-old Crystal Tijerna, is charged with injury to a child. So is her boyfriend, 30-year-old Noah Herrera, and 48-year-old Steven Paul Chauvin, who was living with the couple.

It was not clear if any of the suspects had attorneys.

Montgomery County Justice of the Peace Edie Connelly said a preliminary autopsy determined that the boy died of severe blunt trauma to the abdomen.

“He had numerous injuries,” Connelly said.

The boy was living with his maternal grandparents, five cousins, an aunt and an uncle. The cousins, ranging in age from 2 to 12, were placed in the custody of CPS.

The Houston Chronicle reported that the agency’s first entry for the boy came on the day he was born, on Aug. 3, 2006, after his mother appeared to have tested positive for drugs after she delivered him. The mother had been taking cold medication, and Child Protective Services concluded that could have resulted in a positive test result.

The agency made additional visits six months later on Feb. 17, 2007, after someone complained that the boy’s mother and her boyfriend were passed out inside a car while the baby was strapped into a car seat in the back. The child was placed with the mother’s parents, where he was living when 911 was called Monday.

The agency also made two visits in 2008 to investigate neglect and abuse complaints involving the boy’s cousins.

A CPS spokesperson said they also went to the house on Edgefield Lane last week after neighbors reported the children weren’t being supervised. The CPS caseworker didn’t believe any action was necessary at that time.

She wrote in her report that all the children appeared “happy and healthy.”

“The caseworker is just devastated,” agency spokeswoman Gwen Carter said.

Anyone with information on this case is urged to call Det. Paul Hahs Sr. at 936-760-5876 or Montgomery County Crime Stoppers at 800-392-7867.

- The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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child-death.13912b637.html

Emphasis added by H4K Editor