The Guadalajara Reporter

Toddler murdered on vacation in Sayulita

A two-year-old boy from Colorado was murdered, allegedly by his babysitter’s ‘drug-induced’ ex-boyfriend, at a rented vacaction home in Sayulita last Thursday.

The child’s parents, Randy and Jen Charrette, released a statement on Tuesday explaining that they had hired a Mexican woman and her 19-year-old daughter through their Canadian landlord to tend the house and babysit their sons, Axel and Kalden, aged two and seven respectively.

“On February 28^th, the daughter, our babysitter, let her boyfriend into the walled property. She soon realized he was in a violent, drug-induced state. Out of fear, she locked herself in a bathroom, leaving Axel outside,” the parents said. “Kalden was inside playing games. The boyfriend, for reasons unknown, hurt Axel, then threw him in the pool, leaving him to drown.”

The babysitter, identified as Nancy Solorio, reportedly told the state police that she had seen her ex-boyfriend known as Carlos or “El Cholo,” come to the house and soon after she found Axel floating in the pool. The body was taken to the nearby San Francisco Hospital, where doctors said it showed signs of beating and sexual abuse, according to Spanish-language daily Vallarta Opina.

The parents described it as a “horrible” and “unimaginable” experience, adding that “the babysitter was arrested, eventually told the police what happened, and the boyfriend was subsequently arrested. They now face federal murder charges in Mexico City.”

The suspect was named by the Nayarit Attorney General’s Office as Eleodoro Carlos Rodriguez Sanchez or Carlos Roberto Tapia Sanchez, 30, a Guerrero native who was living in Sayulita.

Vallarta Opina cites the suspect’s police statement, in which he said he arrived at the property where his former girlfriend was babysitting at 11 a.m. Upon seeing Axel emerge from the swimming pool, the suspect said he abused him and then threw him back into the pool.

“Our contact at the State Department informs us that our case is Mexico’s number one priority right now,” the child’s parents said.

Having sold off most of their possessions and rented out their home in Ridgway, Colorado, Randy and Jen Charrete had driven down to Sayulita from in early January for a vacation of at least three months. They were staying at Manuel Plascencia 16, in Sayulita’s Colonia Deportiva. The couple documented the time they spent there cycling, surfing, exploring the jungle and learning Spanish on Jen’s blog at www.VeloMom.com.