Suspect in kidnapping, killing of baby’s mom appears in court

It has been more than two months since the killing of a Wichita mother and the kidnapping of her 6-day-old baby stunned Wichita.

On Nov. 17, someone went into the west-side apartment of 27-year-old Laura Abarca, shot her and disappeared with her infant daughter, Sofia. People were consumed with the search for the infant who became known as Baby Sofia. The ensuing investigation set off an intense effort to find the baby and the culprit. Less than two days after the killing, a police SWAT team raided a Dallas house, where Yesenia Sesmas was arrested and the baby was found healthy.

Wichita police said Sesmas, 34, faked being pregnant for months and had been an acquaintance of Abarca’s.

On Thursday, Sesmas, who had to be extradited from Texas, finally heard the charges against her during her first appearance in Sedgwick County District Court. It was a brief and undramatic proceeding for a case that had drawn so much attention.

Her bond will remain at $2.2 million, Judge Jeff Goering said.

Goering read the charges to Sesmas: first-degree murder, kidnapping and aggravated interference with parental custody.

The kidnapping charge and aggravated interference charges filed by the district attorney’s office say there should be a special consideration at any sentencing because the “victim was particularly vulnerable due to age.”

Sesmas also heard a second set of charges that she faces in a separate, earlier incident in July: three counts of attempted kidnapping, two counts of aggravated battery, robbery and theft. Those alleged crimes were against another Wichita mother, who was eight months pregnant, and her two young daughters, The Eagle has previously reported.

Those earlier crimes involved Sesmas luring the victims – identified only by initials in the court documents – into a basement and trying to lock them in there, the charges say. The two counts of aggravated battery involved “strangulation” of two of the victims in July, the charges say.

On Thursday afternoon, Sesmas showed no emotion as the judge read the charges, which were relayed by a Spanish-language interpreter. Sesmas, wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, had no questions for the judge.

In an affidavit Sesmas filled out to apply for a public defender to serve as her defense lawyer, she listed a Dallas address.

She wrote that she has two sons, ages 13 and 17.

Sesmas is a Mexican national and was in the United States illegally at the time of the homicide, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

At the time of the November killing, she also was a fugitive, after failing to show up in court after being released on a $50,000 bond in the July attempted kidnapping case.

In a television interview in Spanish after her arrest, Sesmas told KUVN-TV of Dallas-Fort Worth that Abarca had agreed to turn over her newborn daughter but backed out at the last moment. Sesmas said she shot Abarca by accident.

Abarca’s brother said that Sesmas’ version was ridiculous because Abarca was completely devoted to her baby and had specific plans for raising her daughter.

Sesmas’ next court appearance is set for Feb. 16.

This story was originally published February 2, 2017 at 1:28 PM with the headline "Suspect in kidnapping, killing of baby’s mom appears in court."