Bella Vista man accused of murder said son's death was accidental

Mauricio Torres (right), 45, is escorted into the Benton County Courthouse annex in Bentonville in this file photo.
Mauricio Torres (right), 45, is escorted into the Benton County Courthouse annex in Bentonville in this file photo.

BENTONVILLE — Mauricio Torres told a police detective that his son’s death was accidental and because of the ignorance of both parents.

Torres, 45, of Bella Vista is charged with capital murder and battery in the first degree. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty.

The jury watched Wednesday a second recording of Capt. Tim Cook, a Bella Vista police detective, interviewing Torres.

Maurice Isaiah Torres, 6, died March 30, 2015 and the medical examiner concluded that the boy’s death was caused as result of injuries from being raped and chronic child abuse.

The panel watched Mauricio Torres' first interview Tuesday. It ended when he requested an attorney.

Cook went the next day — April 7, 2015 — to interview Mauricio Torres in the Benton County Jail. He had requested that Cook come to talk with him and waived his rights and talked with Cook. The second interview lasted for 3 and 1/2 hours.

Mauricio Torres began the interview by telling Cook that he was the only person that he could trust and he wanted to make things right for his son.

He wanted to protect his wife, Cathy, but was concerned that he was being treated differently than her.

He told Cook that he had been contemplating committing suicide because he is not made to be locked up. “If I take my life she (Cathy) walks and that’s not justice for my son," he said.

Mauricio Torres, who was dressed in black and white jail attire, stood up during the interview and told Cook that his wife had betrayed him, but he would never betray her.

Mauricio Torres has made continued references to to his son's death being accidental. However, he has admitted that a foreign object was put in his son's rectum while the family was on a camping trip in Missouri. He also referenced that the act was done as a punishment for his son.

Jurors will listen to the remaining hour of the interview after returning from lunch. Prosecutors will then play a third interview that Cook conducted of Mauricio Torres.

Cathy Torres, 44, is also charged with capital murder and battery in the first degree. Her trial is in May 2017.

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