Christopher Rosillo, and live-in girlfriend Guadalupe Quintero plead guilty in the murder of his daughter, Oleander Labier/ Quintero is sentenced to twenty years/ Rosillo sentenced to life in prison

GRESHAM, Ore. (CBS/AP) Oregon police are calling it the worst case of child abuse they've seen in 20 years.

They say 5-year-old Oleander Labier suffered for years before finally dying in an Oregon emergency room, allegedly at the hands of her father, Christopher Rosillo, and his live-in girlfriend, former pageant queen Guadalupe Quintero.

Gresham Police Sgt. Rick Wilson said Oleander's abuse was "the worst case of child abuse" that members of the Multi-Agency Child Abuse Team and East Metro Major Crimes had seen in 20 years. Sgt. Wilson said the official cause of death won't be released until the coroner's report is complete.

On April 13, medics found Oleander unconscious and not breathing when they arrived at a house in Gresham, Ore., about 15 miles east of Portland. The child was pronounced dead on arrival at a Portland hospital.

If the allegations are true, it will be a far fall from grace for Quintero, who was crowned Miss Clackamas County four years ago and was a contender to represent Oregon in the Miss America Pageant, according to local Portland station KATU.

Before her death, neighbors told the station that the young girl was so fragile that she was often seen walking around with a feeding tube.

The couple's two other children, a 3-year-old and an 11-month-old, were taken into protective custody.

Rosillo and Quintero, both 23, have been charged with murder. They are being held without bail in a Multnomah County jail.

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Gresham police arrested a man and his live-in girlfriend Friday in the suspicious death of his 5-year-old daughter earlier this week.

After officers interviewed the family and associates, they arrested Christopher A. Rosillo and Guadalupe Quintero, both 23, of Gresham on accusations of murder, said Sgt. Rick Wilson, a Gresham Police Department spokesman.

Police were dispatched shortly before noon Tuesday to the 400 block of Southeast 169th Avenue, where they found the girl, identified as Oleander Labier, unconscious and not breathing.

An ambulance took the girl to Portland Adventist Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

The Multnomah County medical examiner's office deemed the death "suspicious" and conducted an autopsy. The East Metro Major Crimes Team and the Multi-Agency Child Abuse Team were activated to investigate.

The autopsy and the investigation determined that the girl's death resulted from "homicidal violence," Wilson said.

Rosillo's other children, ages 3 years and 11 months, were removed from the home and placed in protective custody, Wilson said. Quintero was the mother of those two, but not Labier, he said.

Wilson said the investigation was continuing, and more arrests were possible.

He asked anyone with information regarding the girl's death or the family's activities to call Gresham police at 503-618-2719 or 1-888-989-3505.

Quintero was arrested about 1:40 p.m. and later booked into the Multnomah County jail; Rosillo was arrested about 7:45 p.m. Both will have court appearances next week.

As children played late Friday afternoon along Southeast 169th Avenue, neighbors said they rarely saw the girl playing outside.

Max Rusk, who lives across a courtyard parking lot at the Maple Meadows apartment complex, said he never saw evidence of violence from the family's home. He'd heard recently that the 5-year-old was sick.

"It's just sad," he said. "She was a beautiful girl -- dark hair, dark eyes. This is tragic."

Rusk, who retired to Oregon from a law enforcement career in California, watched Wednesday and Thursday as investigators went through the house and removed items in evidence bags. He described the arrest as shocking.

Oleander Labier was not the only child to die in mysterious circumstances in recent years in Gresham.

Employees at Mount Hood Medical Center suspected child abuse when the battered body of 2-year-old Keyana Bravo-Hamilton was brought in Sept. 4, 2006.

A Multnomah County jury convicted her foster parents -- Armando Moreno-Garcia, 40, and Dunia Soledad Moreno, 31 -- of first-degree manslaughter in her death, following testimony by their own 6-year-old daughter.

A review of the case by the Oregon Department of Human Services found lapses in the child-welfare system.
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Indictment alleges years of abuse led to death of 5-year-old Gresham girl
By Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian
April 26, 2010, 11:41AM

A Multnomah County grand jury has indicted a Gresham couple with murder by abuse charges in the death of a 5-year-old girl.

The indictment suggests the girl, Oleander Labier, died from a lengthy pattern of assault, neglect, and maltreatment that stretched for more than three years.

Christopher A. Rosillo, 23, and Guadalupe Quintero, also 23, of Gresham were arrested Friday after Gresham police were sent to their home on April 13, where they found the girl, Oleander Labier, unconscious and not breathing. Labier was Rosillo's daughter.

An ambulance took the girl to Portland Adventist Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Rosillo and Quintero are each scheduled to be arraigned in Multnomah County Circuit Court tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. on the indictments.

Rosillo and Quintero each face two counts of murder by abuse.

The first count of murder by abuse alleges that the two are responsible for the girl's death as a result of a pattern of assault. The second count of murder by abuse alleges the two caused the girl's death as a result of neglect, and, or, maltreatment, according to Nathan Vasquez, the Multnomah County deputy district attorney.

Rosillo faces an addidtional two counts of murder. The first count accuses him of causing the girl's death by first-degree assault; the second count alleges he committed second-degree assault against his daughter.

The East Metro Major Crimes Team and the Multi-Agency Child Abuse Team investigated the death, detecting years of abuse.

The indictment suggests the abuse occurred between Feb. 18, 2007 and April 13 of this year.

The state medical examiner's office only said the girl died from homicidal violence.

Rosillo's other children, ages 3 years and 11 months, were removed from the home and placed in protective custody. Quintero, voted Miss Teen Clackamas County in 2006, was the mother of the younger two children, but not Labier.

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It just goes on and on and on doesnt it? And of course, child services had been called in the past too
and nothing was done apparently. We just cant get it right can we? I dont know if its because of budget cuts or overworked social workers or what but our failure to protect children in danger is stunning. I cannot imagine working for a privare company and having so many failures in one department without getting fired.
What is going on with Child Services? Not just in Oregon but as we know in every State?

A couple who identified themselves as Quintero's parents were in the courtroom Tuesday but declined comment.

Quintero smiled and waved to them briefly as she was led out of the courtroom by a deputy.

She is the mother of Rosillo's two other children, ages 3 and 11 months, who have been placed in state custody.

A tentative trial date was set for June 9.

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I can't find anything about a trial on June 9. I checked Multnomah County... Rosillo is in custody, but it doesn't show that Quintero is.

Former Beauty Queen Accused of Murder
A family member of Quintero's, who asked not to be named, told KATU that they had called the state's Department of Human Services "at least twice to report that the girl was being abused."

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Between an ashtray full of cigarette butts and a plastic Christmas tree stand brimming with trash lies a small bouquet of camellia, tulip and rhododendron blossoms wrapped with a metal necklace and crucifix.

The shrine marks the front step of a Gresham apartment where a 5-year-old girl allegedly endured years of abuse before dying last week. The vases of silk flowers, candles and handmade cardboard sign — “RIP baby girl” — stand in stark contrast to the ugliness police say took place behind the worn blue front door of Apartment 418.

In what police are calling the worst case of child abuse and neglect they’ve investigated, Oleander Labier, 5, of Gresham allegedly died at the hands of her father and his fiancee Tuesday, April 13.

According to a court charging document, the girl was only 2 when her father, Christopher A. Rosillo, and his fiancee, Guadalupe Quintero, both 23, began abusing her in February 2007.

“After speaking to members of the Multi-Agency Child Abuse Team and the East Metro Major Crimes Team, this has been the worst case of child abuse that anyone can ever recall investigating,” said Sgt. Rick Wilson, Gresham police spokesman.

“… People should have noticed this, family in particular,” Wilson said, adding that the fiancee’s sister manages the Maple Meadows apartment complex where the girl lived and died.

The medical examiner’s office won’t release the girl’s official cause of death for weeks, but “there was certainly a pattern of physical abuse that has been going on for years,” Wilson said.

Rosillo and Quintero are being held without bail on allegations of murder by abuse at the Multnomah County Detention Center. Rosillo also faces a charge of felony cocaine possession. Both entered not-guilty pleas during their arraignments Monday, April 19.

Gresham police found the girl unconscious and not breathing at about 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, April 13, after responding to a report of an injured child at 418 S.E. 169th Ave., just north of Southeast Stark Street.

Officers arrived as the girl was being taken to Adventist Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

The East Metro Major Crimes Team and the Child Abuse Team began an extensive investigation. An autopsy revealed the girl died of homicidal violence, the details of which are not being released.

Police arrested the father’s longtime live-in girlfriend and fiancee at 1:40 p.m. Friday, April 18, on a murder allegation. The father was arrested later that night at 7:50 p.m.

Two other children in the home — a 3-year-old girl and an 11-month-old boy — have been removed and are in protective custody. They do not appear to have been abused, Wilson said. Quintero was the mother of the two younger children, but not Labier. Her biological mother is a transient in the Seattle area.

The Oregon Department of Human Services, which is responsible for looking into reports of child abuse, is investigating the girl’s death, said Gene Evans, department spokesman. He could not disclose whether any reports of abuse had been made regarding the girl due to the ongoing investigation.

Meanwhile, the girl’s neighbors struggle to cope with the girl’s tragic death.

“It’s been a sad week,” said neighbor Max Rusk, who was smoking his pipe outside when he discovered the shrine that another neighbor erected.

“Somebody had to,” Rusk said. “Somebody’s got to mourn this child. … I just cannot believe this happened.”

Rusk, a retired police officer from California’s Bay Area, has lived in the complex for five years and estimates the family lived there for one to two years.

“I never saw her,” he said of the little girl. “I didn’t even know they had a third child.”

He only saw the 3-year-old girl and baby outside playing with other kids in the complex. “They kept her secluded. Now I know why.”

He’d heard the girl was emaciated, only about 25 pounds, when paramedics took her battered body to a local hospital.

“They can’t tell me her family didn’t know what was going on,” Rusk said.

Now Rusk is guilt-striken, depressed and angry that he didn’t put the pieces together.

“I’m an ex-cop for Christ’s sake,” he said. “Why couldn’t I have seen something. … I love kids. I had no idea this was going on.”

Then he swept his arm upward, gesturing toward the other tenants.

“None of us did.”

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The bail hearing for Guadalupe Quintero and Christopher Andrew Rosillo, originally scheduled for Friday, July 16, has been waived by the defendants and they now are held pending trial on murder by abuse charges, without bail at the Multnomah County Detention Center.

Quintero and Rosillo are accused of multiple counts of murder for allegedly abusing Rosillo’s 5-year-old daughter, Oleander Labier, for an extended time, which eventually ended with her death.

The trial in this case is set to start in February 2011, said Nathan Vasquez, Multnomah County deputy district attorney.

The murder-by-abuse charges allege that Rosillo and Quintero are responsible for the girl’s death as a result of a pattern of assault, neglect and maltreatment.

Labier was found Tuesday, April 13, by Gresham police after they responded to a report of an injured child.

She was taken to Adventist Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

Police arrested the father’s longtime live-in girlfriend and fiancee at 1:40 p.m. Friday, April 16, on a murder allegation. The father was arrested later that night at 7:50 p.m.

Quintero is not the victim’s biological mother, but does have two children, a 3-year-old girl and 1-year-old boy, with Rosillo. The biological mother is a transient in the Seattle area.

Both children have been taken into protective custody and do not appear to have been abused, police said.

Quintero and Rosillo have not had any contact with their other children.

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A 24-year-old Gresham woman was sentenced to 20 years in prison today after pleading guilty to “making it easy” for her boyfriend to allegedly torture to death his 5-year-old daughter over the course of years.
Guadalupe Quintero also admitted to beating the girl, Oleander Labier, with a belt on three different occasions.

Today, Quintero pleaded guilty in Multnomah County Circuit Court to first-degree manslaughter for recklessly causing the death of Oleander “by aiding and abetting Rosillo in his pattern” of torture. She pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment for whipping the child with the belt. But Quintero minimized her crimes when she spoke before a courtroom of family members.
“I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to protect Oleander as much as I should have,” Quintero said. “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. .¤.¤.And I didn’t choose for this to happen.”

At the time of Oleander’s death, was receiving public assistance, and had held down an $8.40-an-hour job at Ross for the previous month, according to information she provided authorities.

The couple had two children together, who were 11 months and 3 years old at the time of their half-sister’s death. Neither one of those younger children were abused. They were taken into state custody.

Relatives and friends of Quintero sat through the hearing support of her, saying they blame the 5-year-old’s father for her death. They say they didn’t recognize that Oleander was being tortured over the years. They also said that Rosillo had threatened to kill Quintero if she didn’t stay with him.

“She was scared for her life, and her other kids getting taken away,” said Melanie Quintero, Guadalupe Quintero’s mother.

Read more here:
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A 24-year-old Gresham father who tortured to death his 5-year-old daughter pleaded guilty to murder by abuse this afternoon.

Christopher Andrew Rosillo is scheduled to be sentenced in late April to life in prison with the possibility of walking free after 25 years. Rosillo didn’t speak, except to answer Judge Michael McShane’s procedural questions before a packed courtroom of relatives and onlookers.

He then admitted to causing the death of Oleander Labier on April 13, after three years of torture. He also pleaded guilty to first-degree criminal mistreatment for breaking her rib and femur, beating her with a belt in two separate instances and damaging her intestines.

According papers filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court, a deputy medical examiner noted that the severely malnourished girl weighed 28 pounds, and her eyes were noticeably sunken into her face. She had multiple broken ribs, some broken more than once. Her femur was broken multiple times. Her internal organs were scarred. And her body was covered in bruises, scrapes and gouges from a rod-shaped object.

Investigators say it’s one of the worst cases of child abuse they’ve seen.

Read more here:
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A 24-year-old Gresham dad who tortured to death his 5-year-old daughter -- with the support of his long-time girlfriend -- looked solemn as he apologized in court this afternoon.
Christopher Andrew Rosillo said was "sorry to all the people I hurt in this tragic event, especially sorry for my daughter who has passed on. She never deserved any of this."
Multnomah County Circuit Judge Michael McShane then sentenced Rosillo to life in prison with the possibility of release after 25 years, as part of a plea deal agreed to by both sides. Rosillo pleaded guilty to murder by abuse last month.
Rosillo also apologized to his two younger children -- siblings of his daughter, Oleander Labier, whom died after three years of horrific child abuse at the hands of Rosillo and his girlfriend. Investigators say it was one of the worst cases they've seen. Paramedics responded to a 9-1-1 call from the apartment at 418 S.E. 169th Avenue on April 13, 2010 to find Oleander not breathing. Bruises, scrapes and gouges -- from a rod-shaped object -- covered her from head to toe. She was severely malnourished at 28 pounds. Her ribs were broken and her femur was broken in multiple places. She was pronounced dead a short while later.
Deputy district attorney Nathan Vasquez said Oleander didn't have to die.
"This child was failed by many people," Vasquez said in court. "Failed by family members. ...Failed in the sense that her abuse was apparent, was understood by the people around her. And no one chose to speak out on her behalf."
Guadalupe Quintero -- Rosillo's long-time girlfriend and mother to his two other children -- pleaded guilty to manslaughter last month and was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

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"This child was failed by many people," Vasquez said in court. "Failed by family members. ...Failed in the sense that her abuse was apparent, was understood by the people around her. And no one chose to speak out on her behalf."

Isn't that sad, Linda! I wonder if those people, that failed Oleander, remember how she looked at them and how her eyes pleaded for help? I hope to hell they do. I hope it's the last thing they think of before that go to sleep and the first thing they think of when they wake up! Everyone that turned their back on this poor defenseless child should be sitting in a cell next to the two that were convicted of her murder!

BJ. And... this mother only got 20 years and the so called dad life but with the possibility of parole after 25 years?????? This child was tortured to death! The dad will only be 50 when he can be paroled, young enough to start another family and repeat history! Same with this mom.
The court also failed Oleander!

Raine, the live in girlfriend wasn't the mother of Oleander. Both of them should be behind bars for life!

I guess I didn't read slow enough. Yes, they both should be in for life. I do not understand the so called justice system sometimes.