Doctor: Asiah Begay’s death was caused by injuries from child abuse

Doctor Andy Siratnak was “very clear in his opinion” that the injuries that Asiah Begay suffered, and those that he believes caused her death, were from non-accidental injuries as a result of child abuse, according to Investigator Luke Harrington, a deputy at La Plata County Sheriff’s Office. Harrington wrote a Supplement for the case report that was created while investigating the cause of Begay’s death in 2018.

Asiah Begay. Image used under the Fair Use Doctrine for news reporting and critique purposes.

“He stressed his concerns over the several bruises on the body,” said Siratnak, according to Harrington’s Supplement. “He said in his professional opinion the bruises could not have been caused from normal day to day child play.”

Asiah Begay was a 4-year-old girl who was living in Durango, Colorado with her father Kaiol Begay and her stepmom Kimberly Joe at the time of the incident, according to Begay’s case report.

Asiah Begay was the biological child of Salencia Thompson, who brought her daughter’s story to my attention.

Nearly ten months after Dr. Siratnak made that observation about Begay’s injuries, a pathologist in Durango releases an Autopsy Report finding the cause of death as undetermined.

The point of showing readers the contradictions in the findings of these medical professionals is that the biological mother Salencia Thompson feels discriminated against by public officials who were tasked with investigating her daughter’s death, according to Thompson.

Specifically, Thompson said that she thinks that public officials didn’t want to do anything about Begay’s death because of her native American race.

Furthermore, Thompson said that she doesn’t understand why the public officials involved didn’t take child abuse seriously.

Doctor noted Begay’s injury pattern as those from abuse

Emergency responders were called to the home of Asiah Begay, who was being supervised by her step mom Kimberly Joe on October 16, 2018.

Deputy C. Rieb reported that he got a call of an unconscious 4-year-old who wasn’t breathing.

“Dispatch advised the female had slipped and fell in the bathtub around 4 PM that day and symptoms began 30 minutes prior to the 911 call,” Rieb’s Supplement said.

An EMT also showed up on scene, said Rieb.

Kimberly Joe. Image used under the Fair Use Doctrine for news reporting.

“The EMT asked, ” What happened? ” The father said, ” I don’ t know, I just got back from work”. The mother said she was playing in there and pointed somewhere in the house and said the little girl had soiled herself. She said she sent her to the bathroom to clean up and had her sister join her. Mother said she helped take the little girl’s ” poopie clothes” off and the two girls were doing ”fine”. Mom said the poop got on the rug and she ran the clothes outside. She said the girls were about done when she got back so she had them get out. She stated the girl was “like this” about thirty minutes before calling.

The EMT asked if she has ever had any seizures before. Both parents said, “No”.
The mom then said that around 5 PM her daughter said her head was hurting so she gave her five Ibuprofen.”

Investigator Pete Berryhill spoke with Doctor Gary Morris (neurologist) and Theresa Stassie (Social Worker at Children’s Hospital) about their observations of Begay, before she passed away. Here’s some notes that Berryhill took for the Supplement:

-She has grab marks, marks like she was hit with something
-____was physically abused
-The story of her hitting her head in the presence of the sister doesn’t explain any of this
-She has a more severe head injury than what has been explained
– Something else might have happened before ____ was put into the shower
-The stepmother might know something more than what she is saying
– Her brain injury is more severe than what would be expected, it doesn’t make any sense
– Delay in care is relevant
-This could play into her physical state
– She does have a brain injury, but it’s not a massive one
-We are concerned, we just don’ t know how t he brain injury happened
– His instinct is t hat someone really just lost it with her
-She is covered with marks , and they only have dad’s side of the story
– Kaiol knew about the marks on her knees
-The burns aren’t a concern, kids do that (fingers in hot food)
-Kaiol was unaware of _____ falling on the staircase
-She was very unstable yesterday, too unstable to conduct a physical
– It looks like she was manhandled
-She doesn’t have a skull fracture, as far as they can tell

Additionally, on 10/19/2018, Investigator Pete Berryhill emailed Investigator Luke Harrington the release of medical notes
from the Children’ s Hospital. Below are copied key notes of the report.

“Medical Record document page 23 of the record states:

Requesting Attending: Kulungowski , Ann Marie,
Consulting Attending: Andrew Sirotnak, MD
Consulting Service: Child Protection Team
Person and Service Requesting Consult: ICU
PCP: Shiprock, MN – name unknown
Date of Consult: 10/17/2018
Time Consult Performed: 1100
IMPRESSION: 4 year old with what appears to be a presentation of acute altered mental status secondary to a possible brain injury from an un-witnessed fall in bathtub. The minor history of trauma here did not correlate with her acute presentation and subsequent neurological decline. The possibility of an abusive head trauma with a delay in care, after a transient loss of consciousness and/or seizure activity is a distinct possibility given repeat imaging findings.

Soft tissue injuries are more extensive than usually seen in routine child play, including lower extremity soft tissue contusion that may be a pattern. Posterior of body cannot be examined due to patient instability and needs to be reexamined when patient stable enough to be roll ed; I would be concerned if there is back or soft tissue injury and areas again not routinely associated with child play. The history of a soiling event preceding a un-witnessed fall with trauma while being cleaned must raise concern for an injury that may have occurred in this context; soiling accidents can be triggers for physical discipline by caregivers or non-accidental.

Complex social history is apparent and needs further risk and safety assessment as well as immediate assessment of safety for siblings in the home.”

Pathologist’s Autopsy Report gave undetermined cause of death

Unlike the opinions the doctor that investigators quoted for their Supplements were the findings of Pathologist Doctor Mike Arnall, who did the autopsy and then wrote an Autopsy Report for Begay.

While Arnall did note a number of different injuries observed for his report, the report gave the rare conclusion that her cause of death was undetermined. My unqualified anecdotal opinion is that it’s rare for Dr. Arnall to list the cause of death as “undetermined” based on a bunch of Autopsy Reports that I’ve read of his in the past.

It’s attached below for you to read.

Here’s an image of the Certificate of Death, as well, which also lists the cause of death as undetermined. Interestingly, the document is silent about any significant conditions leading to Begay’s death.

District Attorney refuses to press charges

After the report with all of the Investigator’s Supplements was presumably given to the District Attorney’s Office, a response from Deputy District Attorney Herb Bowman was put into writing.

Image of Herb Bowman used under the Fair Use Doctrine for news reporting and critique purposes.

Sergeant J Ezzell said that he received a letter from the DA stating:

1) On 4-9-2026, I received a letter from the DA ( Herb Bowman) advising he had
completed a review of this case and his office will not be filing charge at this time.
2) Should new evidence be received, it will be documented and if warranted, will
be sent to the DA for further consideration.
3) Case is closed at this time and may be reopened should new developments
arise.

Any future leads and evidence for this case should be directed to La Plata County Sheriff’s Office at (970)247-1157.

Here’s a link to a Gofundme that was created for raising funeral donations: https://www.gofundme.com/f/funeral-for-asiah.
Adam Howell is a writer who believes in free press and the importance of the constitution. He can be reached by clicking on this link to the contact page.