VANESSA HART - 4 yo (2010) - Kearns (SW of Salt Lake City) UT

A 4-year-old Kearns girl
who died Sunday was abused by her father and his girlfriend, police say.

Vanessa Hart was unconscious, barely breathing and "very cold to the
touch," when her father, Clint Hart, came home from work on Sunday
afternoon, according to jail documents.



Clint Hart's live-in girlfriend, Marina Belen Navarro, had called to
alert him that the child had defecated in her pants and fallen down a
half-flight of carpeted stairs, investigators wrote. Hart, 21, and his
brother-in-law drove Vanessa to the hospital, where physicians concluded
she had suffered skull fractures, bleeding on the brain and internal
abdominal injuries -- trauma inconsistent with a fall, doctors said. She
died about 11 p.m.
Navarro, 21, did not go to the hospital with the father, and
investigators could not find her for several hours, said Unified Police
Department Lt. Don Hutson.
When Navarro was located -- it's unclear where --she again said she
had been baby-sitting Vanessa and Vanessa's 2-year-old brother when
Vanessa fell down the stairs.
Navarro was jailed on suspicion of child abuse homicide. Hutson said

After a long interview with Clint Hart on Monday, police arrested
him on suspicion of abusing Vanessa, but not in Sunday's incident.
"We're still confident he was not present Sunday, when the incident
that led to her death occurred," Hutson said. He would not describe the
abuse Clint Hart is accused of inflicting.
The 2-year-old boy was
not injured, Hutson said.
Vanessa "loved to play," said her mother, Stephanie Alfaro.
"She loved her brother, loved her little sister," Alfaro said, in
reference to her third child, Vanessa's half-sister. "She was always
asking for me.
"I was told that she fell down some stairs after taking a bath, but
doctors told me she had too many injuries, ... that there was abuse,"
said Alfaro, 20, of Salt Lake City.
Alfaro said she received custody of her son on Monday.
Vanessa's grandfather, Don Sequaptewa, described her as a "quiet,
little, happy little girl."
Alfaro said she and Clint Hart broke up in 2008. Clint Hart and
Navarro had been a couple for about a year, Hutson said.
Neighbor Kaston Ellington said the Harts moved into their house,
near 5000 West and 5440 South, just six to eight months ago. There is no
history of police calls at their address during that time, Hutson said.

"It's pretty sickening, if you ask me," Ellington said of Vanessa's
death. "A 4-year-old girl who cannot defend herself? It's sickening."

Police are investigating what they call "a pattern of abuse" and how
it may have led to the death of a 4-year-old girl.
Clinton Hart, 21, has been arrested for
investigation of child abuse while his girlfriend, Marina Navarro, also
21, is facing possible child abuse homicide charges in connection with
the death of Hart's daughter Vanessa Hart.
Vanessa died Sunday night at Primary
Children's Medical Center after Hart returned home from work and found
Vanessa unconscious. The child was rushed to the hospital but died of her injuries.
Navarro was babysitting Vanessa while Hart
was at work and initially claimed Vanessa fell down a flight of stairs.
Police said based on the injuries that
explanation was "highly unlikely" and arrested Navarro about an hour
after Vanessa's death. Now police are investigating whether a "pattern
of abuse" led to Vanessa's death, said Unified Police Lt. Don Hutson.
"While the father wasn't at home at the time
(Vanessa) became unconscious, we are still looking at whether this
pattern of abuse by the couple may have eventually led to her death,"
Hutson said.Medical examiners have not officially determined the cause of death.
Because of the ongoing investigation, specific charges are not likely to
be filed soon, Hutson said. "What we find in the course of our
investigation will determine who gets charged with what."
Although deeply mourning the loss of Vanessa, family members expressed doubts Tuesday as to
whether Clinton Hart abused his young daughter.
"We really don't have proof of that," said Jennifer Lopez, the girl's great-aunt and
godmother. "I would like to believe that he didn't. I'm not aware that
he's ever hurt Vanessa."
Lopez said her niece, Stephanie Alfaro, Vanessa's mother, was very angry and heartbroken with
what happened and "would love to have a face to face" with Navarro.
"We can't see how she could hurt Vanessa," Lopez said. "We don't understand how anyone could
hurt Vanessa."
Hutson called Vanessa's death "eerily similar" to the death of 4-year-old Ethan Stacy; his
mother and her husband stand accused of murdering him and hiding and desecrating his body.
Unified police investigators are talking to officials involved in the Ethan Stacy
investigation in order to "learn the lessons" of that case, Hutson said.
"There is always a lot of attention on death cases, but you have to wonder how many more children
are being abused but haven't died yet," the lieutenant said. "I think
sometimes people are hesitant to watch for signs of abuse because it's
such an awkward situation, but we all need to start asking questions."
Funeral plans are still being arranged but two memorial funds have been organized under
Vannesa's name at America First Credit Union and Wells Fargo Credit
Union. The family is asking for any donations to help with funeral costs.
Besides burying her only daughter, Alfaro is trying to gain custody of her 2-year-old son, who is
staying with his father's family for now. Alfaro has a court order but
the Department of Child Services has yet to give over the toddler, Lopez said.
"We're clueless to the whole thing. Police are only now finally starting to talk to us," she
said. "We just know there's a little girl we have to bury and we're not
happy about it. She was a very special girl. She was loved very much."

Mourners gathered for a candlelight vigil at Granger
Park in West Valley City to remember the life of a 4-year-old girl who
died from injuries consistent with child abuse. Her name was
Vanessa Hart. She lived at 5093 West Silvertip Drive in Kearns. Her
family and friends lit almost a hundred candles at the vigil, sang
hymns and listened to versus from the Bible. Marina Navarro, 21,
was arrested in connection to Hart's death. Investigators suspect the
4-year-old girl died from the injuries she received from Navarro. Navarro
was watching Vanessa when she called the father, Clint Hart, at work to
report the little girl fell down the stairs. Vanessa was treated
at Pioneer Valley Hospital and later flown to Primary Children's
Hospital, according to her great uncle Luis Lopez. He says Vanessa died
from cardiac arrest June 13 after 11:00 p.m. during emergency surgery.Doctors
were relieving pressure from Vanessa's swelling brain, Lopez said.Vanessa's
family set up a fund at Wells Fargo Banks called "Stephanie Alfaro, In
Loving Memory of Vanessa Hart." Stephanie is Vanessa's biological
mother. The public is invited to attend a special Rosary Service
for Vanessa Hart at Saint Peter and Paul Catholic Church at 3580 West
3650 South in West Valley Sunday from 6 to 8:00 p.m.The public is
also invited to her grave side service at Elysian Burial gardens at
1075 East 4580 South in Salt Lake City. It will be held Monday from
noon to 12:30 p.m.

One doctor called it "one of the worst series of intra-abdominal
injuries" that a team of physicians at Primary Children's Medical Center
had ever seen, according to court documents.

On Monday, the day 4-year-old Vanessa Hart
was laid to rest at Elysian Burial Gardens, the Salt Lake District
Attorney's Office charged 21-year-old Marina Navarro and 21-year-old
Clinton Hart, Vanessa's father, with murder in connection with the young
girl's death.

Navarro was charged with criminal
homicide/aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, and three counts of
second-degree felony child abuse. Hart was charged with first-degree
felony murder and two counts of intentionally inflicting serious injury
on a child, both second-degree felonies.

"It just makes me sick to think how anybody
could even hurt Vanessa, someone who's not able to defend herself,"
Vanessa's aunt and godmother Jennifer Lopez said. "I just don't see it happening."

Documents filed in 3rd District Court on
Monday outlined disturbing and heart-rending descriptions of the
injuries the little girl suffered. Doctors at Primary Children's found
evidence of "multiple severe injuries, including massive trauma to
(Vanessa's) head, massive swelling of (Vanessa's) brain" and
neurological damage possibly caused by several impacts to the head,
according to court documents.In addition, doctors discovered Vanessa had swelling in her bowel
wall, tearing near her colon, a rupture near her stomach and a partially
crushed pancreas. The injuries likely were caused by "multiple forceful
blows or crushing forces" to Vanessa's abdomen, according to court documents.

The combination of the fresh head injury and multiple blows to Vanessa's abdomen, with the
resulting shock and blood loss related to both, "were the proximate
cause of death" to the young girl, according to court records.

On June 13, Clinton Hart went to work, leaving his two children, ages 4 and 2, in the care of his
live-in girlfriend, Navarro.

At about 11:20 a.m., Hart received a text message from Navarro that Vanessa had fallen down the
stairs, was lethargic and was having a hard time breathing, court
documents stated. When Hart arrived home, he found Vanessa unconscious, court records state.

Doctors at Primary Children's, however, said Vanessa's head injuries could not have been
caused by falling down a flight of carpeted stairs, according to charging documents.

Additional, older injuries were discovered during the autopsy, including bruising on her
chest. One explanation given for the bruises by Hart was that Vanessa
"ran into my fingers," according to court documents.
More bruising was found around Vanessa's mouth and eyes. Hart gave
doctors several explanations for Vanessa's bruises, including falling
against a table, falling off a bicycle, falling in the tub, climbing a
brick wall and being hit in the eye by a toy thrown by her 2-year-old
brother, according to court documents.

When all of the injuries were considered as a
whole, a doctor at Primary Children's said it was evidence of "an
ongoing pattern of inflicted trauma or child abuse," which culminated
with Vanessa's head and abdominal injuries that caused her death, according to court records.

Hart told police that Navarro was using
make-up to hide the bruising on Vanessa's face so people wouldn't ask
questions when they went out in public, according to court documents.

The Harts lived in a basement apartment at
5093 W. Silvertip Drive (5440 South). One of the occupants of the other
part of the house reported that, on June 11, she could hear screaming
from the Harts' bedroom and then saw the door "banging and bowing out as
if something or someone was being thrown up against it," charging
documents state. The occupant also could hear Vanessa crying "extremely
loud." Witnesses described Navarro's "mean behavior" as getting worse
over the past few months.

A candlelight vigil was held for Vanessa over the weekend.

Marina Navarro and Clinton Hart, both charged with murder in the
death of Hart's 4-year-old daughter, Vanessa, were scheduled to make
initial appearances in 3rd District Court Wednesday morning.
Navarro is charged with aggravated murder,
meaning she could be eligible for the death penalty if convicted and if
the Salt Lake District Attorney's Office pursues that sentence.
The case has drawn attention, in part, for
its similarities to the cases of Nathan and Stephanie Sloop, who have
been charged in the death of Stephanie Sloop's 4-year-old son, Ethan
Stacy. Stephanie Sloop was also charged with capital murder, and
prosecutors have hinted they will seek the death penalty.
Utah has never had a woman on death row.
District Attorney Lohra Miller said she had
not looked closely at the details of the Sloop case, could not comment
on the case and that it did not have any impact on her decision. But she
noted both incidents were tragic.
"The similarity is the tragedy of losing a
young life from someone who is supposed to be taking care of them," she
said. "My heart goes out to the families."
Hart was also charged with murder, but not
aggravated murder. Miller said Hart participated and directed certain
portions of the extensive abuse Vanessa suffered."He was charged as
being someone who is complicit in committing the
crime [and] allowing the abuse to continue," Miller said.
She called the case "disturbing" and said it was "one of the most heinous cases involving a
child I've seen."
Doctors said there were signs of extensive abuse to Vanessa, particularly to her head and abdomen.
Prosecutors will have 60 days after Navarro is arraigned to decide whether they will pursue the
death penalty.

the MoM of Clint hart is controlling and rules the group of kids. He is pleading not guilty.. well how could you not know the girl was hurt in pain not acting right....please he would have to know something was wrong..give me a break...the daughter has about 10 kids. they have all lived together at times. the mom sons and daughter and there kids. they are a family no one would want to deal with if you make them mad..more people would come forward but are afraid....i hope the cops do there job and not let this go...

A Kearns father and his girlfriend are arraigned in court on Wednesday
on charges of killing their daughter.

Four year old Vanessa Hart
died last week after investigators say the father’s girlfriend, Marina
Navarro, beat Vanessa to death. The child’s father, Clinton Hart, is
also charged with his daughter’s murder.

In court documents,
investigators spell out the brutal crime and say Hart would order
Navarro to beat his daughter over the phone.

However, outside of
court Hart’s defense attorney, Steven Shapiro, says that simply isn’t
true. “My client was at work when the abuse occurred,” Shapiro told reporters
and continued, “the suggestion that he wanted that woman to beat his
child, I think it’s a real stretch to get there.” Shapiro also suggested
that the District Attorney’s office was grandstanding in an election
year.

However, D.A. Lohra Miller disagrees, “The bottom line is
that we have a child’s death, and a parent who was responsible for it,
even instructing the abuse over the phone and then coming home and
covering it up.” Miller said that her office intended to
prosecute this crime to the fullest extent and that the evidence will
illustrate what happened.

Hart and his girlfriend Navarro will be
back in court Monday, June 28th, Shapiro wants to have Hart’s bail
reduced.

Here are the Court charging docs....two links

http://www.abc4.com/media/lib/5/b/1/2/b127f211-711b-46e9-a953-a3f230875c5d/MarinaNavarro062110.pdf


http://www.abc4.com/media/lib/5/2/9/9/29988dc9-3cd5-4112-adab-35744f78d7dd/ClintonHart062110.pdf

I guess the abuse from family member to family member is what they have lived with and do to the same back to there kids. Maybe if the laws for kids are stronger they might have a chance. I am so sad this girl suffered the worst trauma seen by primary children hospital. I do hope justice will be served for both. We need more voices for the children..

in one part of statement from dad ..he said he had revived her before by running water over her forehead...what and he thinks.. I guess when you grow up abused yourself. It all seems normal to ya. The finger mark bruses on jaw and chest sound like what his mom used to do to them.. How can the sister upstairs not hear and know.. this family live like an open house. His sister is strong enought to stop what ever ...shes had her share of anger management. they make it seem like they lived on different levels but in statement they are up and down stairs for baths ect..I dont know just makes me sick all these children want is to be loved held kissed and to feel safe. and to know she had such a sad life makes me want to cry...I hope people start to get involved and not let this go by.. we have to give these kids a voice..

Welcome to the blog Zaylie. I wish we could change the fact that we let anybody, regardless of their character or circumstances, have children. I would hate to work in a maternity ward. A new baby should be a happy event but I would be so upset half the time to see what sort of people are going to be responsible for that baby's well being.
It's time we put children first.

every child should be held loved, and not treated like there not important. There are so many people who want a child, if they cant care for there child or want the child. give the child a better chance. Please dont hurt children dont kill children. We need to be more involved. if we see or suspect there are things not right. step up call the police. child services. They need to take this more seriously too. talk to neighbors teachers ...teach abuse in school that if someone hits you it is not ok..tell someone.

zaylie wrote:every child should be held loved, and not treated like there not important. There are so many people who want a child, if they cant care for there child or want the child. give the child a better chance. Please dont hurt children dont kill children. We need to be more involved. if we see or suspect there are things not right. step up call the police. child services. They need to take this more seriously too. talk to neighbors teachers ...teach abuse in school that if someone hits you it is not ok..tell someone.

Welcome, Zaylie...

I completely agree with you. DO SOMETHING!

The last time Stephanie Alfaro saw her little girl, the 4-year-old
was undergoing surgery in a futile attempt to save her life.
That hospital visit was also the first time
Alfaro had seen her daughter in 1 1/2 years, said Stephanie Medina,
Vanessa's stepgrandmother.
Little Vanessa Hart later died from massive
head injuries that police say were caused by her father's girlfriend.
Alfaro had agreed to let the girl's father,
Clinton Hart, 21, take Vanessa and her younger brother, Anthony, for a
weekend, according to Medina. But the woman didn't see her daughter
again until 18 months later when she got word Vanessa was clinging to life.
Clinton Hart rarely responded to Alfaro's
text messages and phone calls, Medina said. "She'd try to go where he
was living a year and a half ago and he'd just up and moved," Medina
said. Occasionally, Hart would tell the woman he'd bring the children
back, but he never did.Hart and his girlfriend, Marina Navarro, 21, are both now facing
charges in connection with Vanessa's death. Navarro is charged with
aggravated murder, a first-degree felony, and three counts of child
abuse, a second-degree felony. Hart is charged with murder, a
first-degree felony, or an alternative charge of child abuse homicide, a
second-degree felony, and two counts of child abuse, a second-degree felony.
Alfaro wasn't at Wednesday's court hearing in 3rd District Court because Medina said she
was too "emotional" to be there. Medina sat outside the hearing with the
girl's aunts, who were holding pictures of Vanessa and a poster calling
for "Justice for Vanessa Hart."
"We're doing OK so far," Medina said. "We're just trying to understand why. How could they do
this? We've got questions, and we want answers. It's just really
difficult. We want justice for what was done."
Medina has a clear idea of what justice would mean for Vanessa, who she called a "happy little
child who loved to play."
"I believe in eye for an eye, just like the Sloops," she said. "We want justice for her life like
they did for little Ethan. … Give them the death penalty."
The case has some similarities to that of Nathan and Stephanie Sloop, who face aggravated
murder charges in the death of 4-year-old Ethan Stacy. Prosecutors have
not expressly stated their intent to pursue the death penalty in that
case but have indicated it is a strong possibility.
Vanessa died June 13 from
what doctors at Primary Children's Medical Center described as
"multiple severe injuries, including massive trauma to (her) head,
massive swelling of (her) brain" and neurological damage possibly caused
by several impacts to the head, according to court documents.
Prosecutors say Hart left for work around 8:30 a.m. that day and
returned home after receiving a text message from Navarro that said
Vanessa had fallen down the stairs, was lethargic and was having a hard time breathing.
When Hart arrived home around 11:30 a.m., he
found Vanessa unconscious, the charges state.
Doctors told police Vanessa's head injuries
could not have been caused by falling down a flight of carpeted stairs,
and older injuries were discovered during an autopsy, including bruising
on the girl's chest, according to the charges.
Though Hart and Navarro both have been
charged in the case, attorneys for the pair insist the circumstances in
Navarro's case are different than those in Hart's.. Navarro could face
the death penalty, if prosecutors choose to pursue it. Hart's attorneys
believe the murder charge against him won't stick.
For now, their cases are on separate time
lines. Navarro is six months pregnant and is expected to deliver Hart's
child on Oct. 3, leading her attorneys to ask the judge to postpone the
woman's next court appearance until November.
"Our first concern is the safe arrival of her
child," defense attorney Denise Porter said. "We want our main focus to
be on her health and the health of her unborn child and having that
child properly placed."Given the severity of the charges leveled against Navarro, the woman
will not be considered for release from jail, in spite of the pregnancy.
Bail initially was set at a slightly more than $1 million for each defendant. But 3rd District
Judge Ann Boyden on Wednesday reduced Hart's bail to $700,000.
During the hearing Wednesday, Hart's attorney, Steven Shapiro, called the initial bail
amount "outrageously high," considering that it is believed Hart was at
work when the fatal injuries were incurred.
Shapiro was adamant that the current charges are "absurd" because, he said, Hart's being aware
that his girlfriend caused some bruising on the girl was not reason
enough to believe she'd end up dead. Shapiro asked that bail be reduced to $10,000.
"There is an enormous leap between him knowing the child was abused to being criminally
charged in that child's death," Shapiro said. "I don't believe there's a
factual, legal basis for a murder charge. The allegations are about
bruising and failure to protect."
Shapiro said the girl had
never suffered serious injuries prior to her death and the state
Division of Child and Family Services had never been called to the home,
and those are the kinds of events that would have alerted Hart to the
extent of the violence.
But prosecutor Cristina Ortega said that while Hart may not have been home the day Vanessa was
killed, he was culpable in the "pattern of physical abuse" that preceded
the girl's death. Ortega said Hart was the one who often directed
Vanessa's discipline, and he once bought makeup when Navarro said it was
needed to cover the girl's bruises.
Boyden agreed to reduce Hart's bail amount but noted that Hart poses a "significant danger" to
the community and faces charges indicative of very violent behavior.
Hart will have a preliminary hearing July 7. Navarro has a scheduling conference slated for Nov. 9.

In one of the statements he said he took her upstair to run water over her head to revive her. He stated as he has done before......No one understands the mom. she was not divorced from the dad it is hard to get the police involved they usually said call your lawyer. No paper work saying who has custody. i have been there.. mine of course worked out and i got my son back. this family is like dealing with a quiet mafia. i know...most are afraid of them.. i am sure the mom was. when you marry in that family you dont see extended family.. you can leave but not with there blood.. the Indian side i guess. I still think if you grow up that way, you dont know any other way. They raise there kids how they were. It is sad we need people to stand up teachers, neighbors, family, friends, police, if we see problems report them.. some families stay so closed off not many see inside but the family members. just like this they know more but family will defend family.