Tijerina died Aug. 31 after being taken to St. Luke’s The Woodlands Hospital as emergency medical crews worked to revive him by performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Someone at his home in East County had called 9-1-1 because the boy was not breathing.

Montgomery County Sheriff’s deputies also responded to the 9-1-1 call, and Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace Edie Connelly ordered an autopsy of David’s body. Pathologist Dr. Patricia Moore, of the Southeast Texas Forensic Center in Conroe, ruled Sept. 1 that David died of severe blunt-force trauma to the abdomen.

David’s body had lain unclaimed for sometime at the forensic center, Connelly said.

“There was not a family member able to come forward and make arrangements,” she said. “The law provides that the justice of the peace who orders the inquest has the responsibility to make arrangements.

The County Judge’s Office handles indigent burials, but does cremations instead of burials, Connelly said.

“The Sheriff’s Office wanted a memorial, and Cashner (Funeral Homes) offered to donate the plot and casket,” she said. “We didn’t want him to be alone.”

Calling the memorial at Garden Park Cemetery “quite a large gathering,” Connelly said Sheriff Tommy Gage and MCSO detectives joined workers from St. Luke’s The Woodlands Hospital and officials with the District Attorney’s Office.

Child Protective Services officials brought David’s siblings to the memorial, Connelly said, and other family members attended. Five siblings, ages 2-12, had been removed from the home the night David died.

The day after David’s death, deputies arrested Crystal Marie Tijerina, 26, David’s aunt and caretaker; Noah Herrera, 30, Crystal Tijerina’s boyfriend; and Steven Paul Chauvin Sr., 47. They each were charged with injury to a child. Cristina Tijerina, 46, David’s grandmother, initially had been arrested the night David died on an unrelated charge but was later charged with injury to a child.

Herrera’s charge was upgraded Sept. 4 to capital murder.

All four, who remain in the Montgomery County Jail, were residents of the same home where David lived.

CPS had investigated the home for a standard check Aug. 25 and reported everything seemed fine, CPS spokeswoman Gwen Carter previously said. Another investigation took place either late last year or early this year because of concerns that one of the children was engaging in inappropriate behavior, possibly gang related, Carter previously said.

David’s mother was investigaed by CPS in August 2006 and February 2007. The mother later died.

Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Commissioner Anne Heiligenstein ordered a review of the agency Sept. 4. The review will include the Aug. 25 investigation at David’s home, Carter previously said.

Members of Bikers Against Child Abuse, a nonprofit organization, also attended David’s memorial Thursday.

“I thought it was very nice of them to have a presence there,” Connelly said.

MCSO detectives and Capt. Bruce Zenor are working to gather donations for a headstone to mark David’s grave and to set up a scholarship fund in his name, Connelly said.

Details on the fund, MCSO Lt. Dan Norris said, have not been finalized.

“He certainly was loved,” Connelly said of the memorial. “There were certainly many people who cared enough to be there.”

http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2009/09/11/conroe_courier/news/david0911.txt

Emphasis added by H4K Editor