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Garland father charged with murder in infant daughter's death

06:04 PM CST on Tuesday, January 6, 2009

By RICHARD ABSHIRE / The Dallas Morning News
rabshire@dallasnews.com

Garland police have charged a man with the capital murder of his 4-month-old daughter, who disappeared in 2006 and is presumed dead.

Selvin Alfredo Ortiz

Family and friends have not seen Prisma Ortiz Ruiz since August 2006, but no one reported her missing until last August, Garland police spokesman Joe Harn said today. Police verified her birth at Baylor Hospital of Garland on April 27, 2006, he said.

Police suspect the girl’s father, 28-year-old Selvin Alfredo Ortiz, killed Prisma and fled to El Salvador.

Her mother, 30-year-old Sonia Ruiz, has also been charged in the case. She faces a count of tampering with evidence and is being held in the Dallas County Jail on $65,000 bail.

Sonia Ruiz

In August, police were contacted with information about Prisma’s fate that led them to search for her body near Joe Pool Lake. Ground and air searches failed to locate any remains.

Harn said that forensics experts told investigators that, given the child's size and how long she’s been missing, “it would be common to find little or no remains.”

 

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