Blanket Was Below Girl's Neck

Rebecca Roybal

Albuquerque Journal

Police Say 3-Year-Old Likely Had Tantrum

In the hours before she died, Rochelle Lemajeur was having what "sounded like a difficult 3-year-old temper tantrum," said Albuquerque Police Sgt. Joe Hudson.

The child's foster mother handled these episodes by wrapping the girl in a blanket from "just below the child's neck with the child's arms inside the blanket," according to a search warrant filed Tuesday in state District Court.

The foster mother said she thought the child's outbursts were because she was born drug-affected, according to the warrant.

The child's death is being investigated by Albuquerque police. No charges have been filed. The autopsy did not reveal any signs of trauma, said Hudson of the Crimes Against Children Unit.

"There was nothing obvious," he said.

The Office of the Medical Investigator is awaiting results of an analysis of the child's lungs to "see what effect asthma had on the child," Hudson said.

Police are not suspecting any foul play, but the death is being investigated as suspicious.

Romaine Serna, spokeswoman for the state Children, Youth and Families Department, which licensed the foster mother less than a year ago, said foster parents must complete 21 hours of training to become licensed.

And wrapping toddlers even those born drug-affected is not part of foster parent training.

"Swaddling a drug-affected baby who's an infant is appropriate, but that's with a pediatrician advising or another professional overseeing that whole process," Serna said. "It's not necessarily appropriate for a 3-year-old. I don't know where she got that from."

Hudson said the foster mother told police she used the method to keep the child from hurting herself, to keep her "from flailing until the child calmed down."

Late Saturday, paramedics who arrived at the foster home on Altez NE found Rochelle was not breathing. She died at 5 a.m. Sunday at University of New Mexico Hospital.

Linda Lemajeur said she complained several times to the state that her children came to her with bruises during state-monitored visits.

The state investigated one allegation of physical abuse at the foster home about two months ago but didn't find any evidence that Rochelle, and her little brother, Steve, were being abused.

According to the search warrant, the foster mother told police she used the blanket-wrapping technique Saturday night, "and after forty minutes (Rochelle) calmed down and appeared to fall asleep."

The foster mother placed the child on the floor next to her "as she was sitting on the floor watching the evening news," according to the warrant. "A short time later (the foster mother) picked (Rochelle) up in an attempt to place her in bed without waking her."

That's when the foster mother noticed the child "was limp and appeared to not be breathing."

The state, Lemajeur said, is paying for the child's funeral. A church service will be held at 9 a.m. Thursday at Redeemer Lutheran-Missouri Synod Church, and burial will follow at the Garden of Angels at Sunset Memorial Park.