A Utah couple has been arrested after their three-month-old son died while they allegedly slept after drinking whiskey and using marijuana. The case marks the second time an infant in their care has died within two years.
Christina Joy Patton, 39, and Nicholas Patrick Romero, 40, were booked Wednesday morning on suspicion of child abuse homicide. Bluffdale police responded to the couple’s home, roughly 20 miles south of Salt Lake City, following reports of an unresponsive infant.
Officers found the couple’s son, Atreyu Nick Romero, dead inside the residence. According to a police affidavit cited by KUTV, empty alcohol containers and drug paraphernalia were scattered around the room where the baby had been sleeping.
Investigators allege that Patton and Romero had consumed alcohol and marijuana before falling asleep in the same bed as Atreyu, KUTV reported.
According to the police report, both parents acknowledged that they had been co-sleeping with the infant between them.
Booking affidavits say Atreyu had been swaddled and placed in a nursing pillow positioned between his parents on the bed.
Patton told officers the baby began crying at about 1 a.m. She said she took him out of the pillow, removed the swaddle and held him in her arms, according to KSL.
Romero reportedly woke at 5:15 a.m. and found the infant pale, unresponsive and not breathing. He began CPR and called 911.
Bluffdale police reported finding alcohol containers and drug paraphernalia during a security sweep of the Utah home
Atreyu Nick Romero died at three months old after an apparent co-sleeping incident last Tuesday night
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The couple also lost another infant, Catherine Irene Romero, two years earlier; details surrounding that death have not been publicly released while the case remains pending
Police went to the Bluffdale residence after receiving a report that an infant was unresponsive
The affidavits state that officers observed “pink-colored fluid or matter” coming from the baby’s nose and mouth while CPR was being performed.
The documents also say officers saw several empty alcohol containers on or near a bedside table beside the bed where Atreyu was reportedly sleeping.
Police records further allege that drug paraphernalia was discovered inside the home that morning.
Romero told investigators he had consumed four or five shots of whiskey and used marijuana that evening, KUTV reported. He declined to take a breathalyzer test.
Patton did take a breath test, which registered a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.011 percent. She also told police she had taken her prescribed Adderall and buprenorphine earlier in the day, according to KUTV.
The couple is also facing a pending case linked to the 2024 death of their three-month-old daughter, Catherine Irene Romero. Her cause of death has not been publicly established, and the case remains unresolved, KUTV reported.
The two children were born nearly two years apart and both died at three months of age.
In a Facebook post marking Atreyu’s birth, Patton wrote: “Feel like he was handpicked by his big sister in heaven and made sure she had her own day to celebrate her.”
