BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Police discovered the body of an 8-year-old girl in a bathtub at the La Quinta Inn on Riverside Drive after responding to a reported medical emergency.
Officers were dispatched to the hotel at 5:37 p.m. on August 2 following reports that a child was unconscious and not breathing. When they arrived and received no response, they forced entry into a locked bathroom where they found the young girl deceased and showing signs of severe trauma.
The investigation quickly led authorities to arrest two suspects: 31-year-old Ray Mata Jr. of Bakersfield and 27-year-old Graciela Bustamonte of Delano.
Both have been booked into Kern County Jail on charges of murder, torture, and multiple counts of child abuse.
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