Rogers man held without bond in child's death

BENTONVILLE -- A 2-year-old boy had several bruises on his face, arms, legs and torso, but a blunt force trauma to the child's stomach caused his death, according to court documents released Thursday.

Gustavo Enrique Peraza, 29, of Rogers was arrested Tuesday in connection with capital murder and battery in connection with the boy's death. Prosecutors have not filed any formal charges against Peraza.

Benton County Circuit Judge Robin Green found Thursday at a hearing there is probable cause to detain Peraza on the charges. She ordered him to be held without bond in the Benton County Jail.

The child identified as R.M. in an arrest affidavit died Aug. 24. Police started investigating after being notified of the death by Mercy Hospital. The trauma to the stomach caused an injury to the boy's intestines, which led to serious infection that caused his death, according to the affidavit.

Peraza is the boyfriend of Breyana Sawyer, the child's mother, according to the affidavit.

Sawyer told police that Peraza would routinely take her son to parks until she got off work, according to the affidavit. She reported Peraza typically told her when bad things happened to her son because he routinely got bruised and Peraza did not want to be accused of hurting him, according to the affidavit.

Police interviewed Sawyer's parents, Fred and Brenda Kyte, who reported seeing numerous suspicious bruises and other injuries on their grandson. They said the injuries always coincided with him being left in Peraza's care, according to the affidavit.

Fred Kyte told police he told his daughter that someday something bad was going to happen to R.M. and she would have no one to blame but herself, the affidavit states.

The couple reported R.M. had an injury that looked like a burn on the back of his hand after returning from a weekend trip to Branson with their daughter and Peraza, according to the affidavit. Their daughter explained to them that the injury was a scrape from falling while playing with older children, according to the affidavit.

Brenda Kyte said she expressed concern to her daughter about R.M.'s injuries and feared Peraza was hurting him, according to the affidavit.

A doctor told police the type of injury the boy suffered was typically sustained from a punch or kick to the abdomen in children and the injuries were typically inflicted within a week of death, according to the affidavit.

Police seized Peraza's and Sawyer's cellphones. Police discovered Peraza had deleted all text messages with Sawyer prior to Aug. 24, but Sawyer did not delete any of her messages with him, according to the affidavit.

The arrest affidavit contains messages from Peraza to Sawyer in which he reports the boy had tantrums and injured himself, causing bruising, according to the affidavit.

The affidavit claims Peraza said R.M. had also fallen and injured himself while at a park. The location services on Peraza's phone never put him near any parks in Rogers, according to the affidavit. Peraza admitted in an interview with police he never took R.M. to a park, and kept the child in his vehicle and drove around while Sawyer was at work, according to the affidavit.

Peraza is on felony probation with convictions for theft by receiving and fraudulent use of a credit card.

His arraignment is scheduled for 8 a.m. Oct. 25 in Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren's courtroom.