Baby dies after allegedly being shaken by mom’s boyfriend, Wichita police say

A 9-month-old baby girl has died days after her mother’s boyfriend allegedly shook and either tortured or beat her.

Maela Flores died Wednesday after being hospitalized in critical condition on Friday, the Wichita Police Department said.

Brietan Ron Rader, 25, was charged Tuesday in Sedgwick County District Court with two counts of child abuse, one count of marijuana cultivation and one count of possessing drug paraphernalia. He is being held in the Sedgwick County Jail in lieu of a $250,000 bond.

Officer Charley Davidson said he expects Rader will now be charged with first-degree murder in Maela’s death.

Sedgwick County district attorney’s office spokesman Dan Dillon said that police will present the latest evidence Thursday morning. If any of the criminal charges against Rader are amended, the information will be released during a first appearance, which could be as early as Thursday afternoon.

Wichita police Capt. Brent Allred previously said Rader was arrested after officers found the girl with critical injuries amid a marijuana-growing operation at an apartment.

Rader had called his girlfriend instead of 911 to tell her that her baby wasn’t breathing, Allred said. The mom then got a sheriff’s lieutenant’s attention by flashing her lights at him as he was heading home. Emergency crews then went to the apartment in the 3600 block of West 13th Street.

Investigators determined the girl’s injuries happened while in the care of Rader, who was the mother’s boyfriend and was not the child’s father, police said.

Two other children, a 6-year-old boy and a 2-year-old boy, were at the home and uninjured. They were taken into police protective custody.

The Department for Children and Families is aware of Maela’s death, DCF spokesman Mike Deines said. He said additional information from the state agency cannot be provided until a finding is made that the girl died from abuse or neglect.

Prosecutors allege in court documents that Rader shook the child and that he either tortured or “cruelly beat” her. The charging document also alleges Rader was illegally cultivating 10 marijuana plants using pots, lights, fans and temperature-control equipment.

The case is one of two over the weekend involving men arrested on suspicion of abusing children. Allred said there was one child death case in 2016, two in 2017, three in 2018 and four in 2019.

“The WPD continues its thoughts and prayers for all those affected in this tragic case,” Davidson said.

This story was originally published January 15, 2020 at 4:32 PM.