Two Utah parents have been arrested after their 3-month-old son died while they allegedly slept following a night of drinking whiskey and using marijuana. The infant was the second child to die while in their care in the past two years.
Christina Joy Patton, 39, and Nicholas Patrick Romero, 40, were booked Wednesday morning on suspicion of child abuse homicide. Police had gone to their home in Bluffdale, roughly 20 miles south of Salt Lake City, after receiving reports of an unresponsive baby.
Officers found the couple’s son, Atreyu Nick Romero, dead. Empty alcohol containers and drug paraphernalia were scattered around the room where he had reportedly been sleeping, according to a police affidavit reported by KUTV.
Investigators alleged that Patton and Romero had been drinking alcohol and using 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 their son, who was positioned between them in the bed.
The booking affidavits stated that the baby had been swaddled and placed in a nursing pillow between his parents.
Patton told police that Atreyu began crying at about 1 a.m. She said she removed him from the pillow, unwrapped his swaddle and held him in her arms, KSL reported.
At 5:15 a.m., Romero woke and found the infant pale, unresponsive and not breathing. He began CPR and called 911.
Police allegedly found alcohol containers and drug paraphernalia inside the couple’s home in Bluffdale, Utah
Atreyu Nick Romero died two years after his sister, Catherine Irene Romero
The couple lost another infant, Catherine Irene Romero, two years earlier
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“Pink-colored fluid or matter was observed coming from the infant’s nose and mouth during CPR,” the affidavits stated.
“Officers observed multiple empty alcohol containers on or near the bedside table adjacent to the bed where the infant had reportedly been sleeping.”
The affidavits also alleged that police found drug paraphernalia at the residence that morning.
Romero told investigators that he had consumed four or five shots of whiskey and used marijuana that evening, according to KUTV. The outlet reported that he declined to take a breathalyzer test.
Patton did take a breathalyzer test, which recorded a blood-alcohol level of 0.011 percent. She also told police that she had taken her prescribed Adderall and buprenorphine earlier that day, KUTV reported.
Police went to the couple’s Bluffdale, Utah, home after receiving a report of an unresponsive infant
Investigators said pink-colored fluid or matter came from the infant’s nose and mouth during CPR
The circumstances surrounding Catherine’s death have not been made public while the case remains pending
The couple is also facing a pending case linked to a 2024 incident involving their 3-month-old daughter, Catherine Irene Romero. She was found dead, but the cause of her death has not been publicly clarified, according to KUTV.
The children, now deceased, were born almost exactly two years apart. Both passed away at three months old, as well.
In a Facebook post celebrating her late son 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.’