$1 million bail set for illegal alien dad arrested in baby's death

A judge set bail at $1 million Wednesday for an illegal immigrant who found his lifeless baby boy in a backyard fire pit Saturday. Federal Way police said he told them he had consumed up to six beers at a party in the hours before finding his son's body.

Officers found Alberto Rios, 38, crying hysterically and rocking back and forth as he cradled his 7-month-old son, repeating "por qué" -- Spanish for "why."

"He also was asking over and over how this could have happened," police said in court documents released after the bail hearing in the King County Jail, where Rios is being held on investigation of manslaughter. Prosecutors said charges could be filed by Friday.

The King County Medical Examiner's Office said Wednesday that Diego Alberto Rios-Santana died of smoke inhalation and suffered burns over 100 percent of his body. The office ruled the death a homicide and found soot in the baby's esophagus, revealing that the child was alive when he entered the fire pit.

Deputy prosecutor Steven Kim asked for a high bail, saying that Rios, who also goes by the name Calderon Martinez and has been deported three times to Mexico, represented a flight risk and was wanted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He also noted that Rios has a string of arrests and convictions for drug and alcohol offenses dating to 1990.

King County District Court Judge Frank La Salata granted the bail request. Rios waived his right to appear at the hearing.

Police said that Rios told them he held a party Saturday to celebrate a job completion. Investigators said he drank an unknown amount of alcohol; Rios reportedly said it was three to six beers.

After the party, Rios told police, he found his wife on the couch with their son, who was crying. He told his wife he would take the infant outside and let the baby sleep with him, and said he fell asleep with the baby on his chest and the couple's 4-year-old daughter next to him.

Shortly before midnight, Rios told police, he awoke to find both children gone, ran into the house to ask his wife where the baby was, then returned to the yard, where he found the infant in the fire pit.

A neighbor said that Rios' wife had banged on her door for help. The neighbor found Rios face down, cradling the baby near the fire pit.

The neighbor "stated that the family is a good family and that they took good care of the children," police said.

Police said they went to the house to help paramedics who had received a call that a baby was bitten by a dog and a subsequent call about a baby who was burned.

Officers found Rios holding the charred baby in a jacket and pronounced the child dead at 12:02 a.m. Sunday.

A neighbor told police she had seen several people bringing cases of beer into the house in the 2600 block of Southwest 333rd Place on Saturday.

The federal government deported Rios in 1994, 1996 and 2001, said Lorie Dankers, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Seattle.

"Once the criminal process runs its course, he'll come into our custody, and we will deport him," she said. "This person already has had his day in (immigration) court."

Kim said he also wanted a high bail for Rios because the defendant finds himself responsible for his son's death and is "a danger to himself."

Rios' previous arrests included possession of marijuana in 1990, driving with an open container of alcohol in 1994 and drug possession in 1995. He was convicted of drug possession in 1991. A felony harassment charge in 2001 involving domestic violence and allegations of heavy drinking was dismissed that year.

At the Rios' house on Wednesday in Federal Way, four balloons, two in the shape of hearts, were tethered to the front of a boat trailer. Joining them in front of the green, one-story house were white-and-brown teddy bears and two bouquets.

Between two towering trees in the backyard was the fire pit.

Neighbors and a relative said the family enjoyed having fires on the weekends as a way to unwind.

"That was his space. He likes to talk to his kids there," said a relative, who asked not to be named.

One neighbor said she heard a hysterical cry from the baby's mother late Saturday.

"When you heard the scream, you knew something terrible happened," said the woman, who also asked not to be named. "It was just a scream, and then everything went to Spanish."

Another neighbor, James Battee, was at work Saturday night and later learned of the baby's death.

"I feel for their family. Nobody deserves this pain," he said. "I'm still in shock."

The relative called the baby's death an accident, saying Rios loves his children so much, and described the baby as a "happy little boy" with black eyes and so much black hair that his family had to cut it often.

The teething child could not crawl, enjoyed his baths and loved being cuddled and having his bare feet in the grass, the relative said.

Federal Way police have not discussed whether they would pursue a possible fire code violation regarding the fire pit, spokeswoman Cathy Schrock said Wednesday.

The code requires that a fire pit be 25 feet away from anything combustible.

In Rios' backyard, "there was not protection around it," she said. "It was just a dugout hole."

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