Couple arrested after their second child dies in just two years inside Utah home

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By DARIYA KOZHASBAY 20:10 08 Oct 2026, updated 21:32 08 Oct 2026

Two parents in Utah were arrested after their three-month-old son died while they allegedly slept following a night of whiskey and weed, the second infant to die in their care in the last two years.

Christina Joy Patton, 39, and Nicholas Patrick Romero, 40, were booked on charges of child abuse homicide Wednesday morning after police responded to calls of an unresponsive baby at their home in Bluffdale, about 20 miles south of Salt Lake City.

They arrived to find the baby, Atreyu Nick Romero, dead, and the room he had been sleeping in littered with empty alcohol bottles and drug paraphernalia, according to a police affidavit reported by KUTV.

Investigators allege the couple was under the influence of marijuana and alcohol the night before they fell asleep in the same bed as their son Atreyu, KUTV reported.

The couple admitted to co-sleeping with their infant between the two of them in bed, according to the police report.

The baby was swaddled and placed in a nursing pillow positioned between the parents, the booking affidavits stated.

Patton told police that the baby began crying around one in the morning, which prompted her to remove him from the pillow, unwrap his swaddle, and hold the baby in her arms, KSL reported.

At 5.15am, Romero woke up to find the baby unresponsive, pale, and not breathing. He started to administer CPR and called 911.

‘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 document contained allegations that drug paraphernalia was found at the residence that morning.

Romero reported that he had four to five shots of whiskey, and used marijuana that evening, according to KUTV. He refused a breathalyzer test, the outlet reported.

Patton was given a breathalyzer test, which showed her blood-alcohol level at 0.011 percent. She said she took her prescribed Adderall and buprenorphine earlier that day as well, according to KUTV.

The couple is also involved in a pending case involving an incident from 2024, in which their three-month-old daughter Catherine Irene Romero was found dead, although her cause of death was never made clear as the case is still pending, 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.’

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