Alyssa Jade Vanderbeck, 19, and Mark Anthony Labaco Clamor, 21, were each charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of their infant son
Credit: KOMO News/YouTube
NEED TO KNOW
- Prosecutors charged two young parents in Pierce County, Wash., with second-degree murder after their 7-week-old baby died of “abusive head trauma” allegedly inflicted by them
- The father, Mark Anthony Labaco Clamor, admitted to investigators that he handled the baby roughly and that they delayed calling 911 when the infant was in distress
- The mother, Alyssa Jade Vanderbeck, filmed an “upbeat” TikTok dance in the infant’s hospital room, according to investigators
Two young parents in Washington are facing murder charges for the death of their weeks-old baby, and investigators said the mother filmed a TikTok dance to an “upbeat” song in the hospital room while her infant was dying.
On Thursday, March 12, prosecutors in Pierce County, Wash. charged Alyssa Jade Vanderbeck, 19, and Mark Anthony Labaco Clamor, 21, with second-degree murder, and Clamor with homicide by abuse, days after their infant son died of “abusive head trauma” allegedly inflicted by them, per court and jail records viewed by PEOPLE.
The couple’s 7-week-old infant — identified in court documents as N.C. — died on Monday, March 9, five days after he was admitted to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital in Tacoma in critical condition, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.
The child suffered “subdural hemorrhages, anoxic brain injury, retinal hemorrhages and possible healing rib fractures,” injuries that a physician’s assessment concluded were “consistent with abusive head trauma,” the affidavit states.
An autopsy further concluded that the baby’s “tentative cause of death appears to be homicide due to abusive head trauma,” according to the document.
In their interviews with investigators with the Lakewood Police Department (LPD), Clamor admitted to jerking the child “in a manner that he realized was rough,” per the affidavit. The investigation into the couple further revealed that they allegedly waited about one hour after they first noticed that the infant “was in significant distress" before calling 911, per the document.
The couple called 911 on Wednesday, March 4, with Clamor telling the dispatcher that his baby son was not breathing.
Clamor told investigators that after his son became “fussy,” he picked him up and jerked him, during which he said he “saw the child’s head ‘jerk back pretty hard’ before trying to catch the child’s head and pull the infant to his chest,” the affidavit states. The father “also later stated that he knew that he had jerked the child in a manner that he realized was rough.”
Vanderbeck, meanwhile, told investigators that the same day, she woke as Clamor put the baby down to sleep, and the couple took a shower together. Afterward, she said they heard the baby making “grunting noises,” and said the infant appeared "unresponsive.”
She said in an interview “that she and Clamor tried to rouse N.C. by stimulating him physically, which included shaking him in a panic,” the affidavit states.
Vanderbeck then allegedly filmed the baby and sent videos to her parents and others, asking for help. “The videos were filmed in multiple locations in their residence and showed the child in serious distress,” the affidavit states.
Specifically, the infant can be seen in the footage “with labored breathing which included posturing and grunting,” and at one point, “appeared to have stopped breathing,” per the document.
On Thursday, March 5, the day after the baby boy was first hospitalized, LPD officers came to hospital to investigate the infant’s injuries as a potential child abuse incident, per the affidavit. At this point, a social worker told police that the baby “was not expected to survive,” and his parents had gone home, the affidavit states.
When they returned to the hospital, an LPD officer “found their demeanor to be unusual considering the gravity of the suspected offense and the condition their child was in,” per the affidavit.
Days later, investigators also found a TikTok video that Vanderbeck filmed by her son’s bedside and posted on the platform on Sunday, March 8. In the video, “she is seen slowly dancing in the bathroom of N.C.’s hospital room with what can be described as ‘upbeat’ music playing in the background,” the affidavit states.
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It is unclear if Vanderbeck or Clamor have legal representation to comment on their behalf.
Vanderbeck cried while appearing in court on March 12, according to footage shared by ABC affiliate KOMO.
Vanderbeck and Clamor are in jail, and being held on $1,000,000 bonds.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
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