Law&Crime Sidebar - Little Girl Begged for Help Before She Was Tortured to Death: Cops

Episode Date: January 5, 2026

Ten-year-old Rebekah Baptiste was so desperate to escape abuse that she ran away from home and begged strangers for help months before her death, according to police. Now, her father Richard Baptiste and stepmother Anicia Woods face murder and child abuse charges. Law&Crime's Jesse Weber is joined by former prosecutor Marian Braccia to analyze the fatal mistakes authorities made in returning Rebekah to her abusers and the push for accountability in Arizona's DCS.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code SIDEBAR at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: https://incogni.com/sidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A little girl in Arizona was so desperate to get away from her dad and stepmom that she ran away from home and started begging random strangers at a gas station for help. Months later, 10-year-old Rebecca Baptiste would be dead. How long has it been since she's been responsive? We don't know. She ran away and they found her in the dirt.

And now, a newly released police report gives us insight into the Marx officers apparently saw on Rebecca what her caregivers had to say about her abuse claims and the alleged fatal mistake authorities made in returning Rebecca to her home. We are taking a closer look at the latest information with a former prosecutor who has focused on crimes involving children. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Let me tell you something real quick. If you think the crime stories like the one I'm about to talk about are scary, wait until you hear what's happening with your personal data online. Yeah, your name, your phone number, your address.

It's all out there. It's easy for anybody to find, but our sponsor, Incogni, helps you disappear online. They track down where your personal information is being exposed, like on search sites or old forum posts, and they demand its removal. Look, when I signed up, they found over 50 databases with my information, and within days it all started coming down. Setup takes minutes. You create an account.

you authorize Incogni to do the rest, and with their new Unlimited Plans custom removals feature, you can submit specific links and a team of privacy experts will personally remove them. So if you care about protecting yourself online, and I really hope that you do, take your privacy back with Incogni and use code sidebar for 60% off an annual plan. When paramedics were called out to the side of an Arizona highway for a report of an unresponsive child, The subsequent investigation opened up a huge can of worms involving alleged abuse against Rebecca Baptiste and her brothers. This was an apparent lack of action on the part of the Department of Child Safety. That is an argument, and there is now a push for better accountability across the board.

Now, Annesia Woods, often referred to as Rebecca's stepmother. She was the girlfriend of Rebecca's father, called 911 in July of 2025, reporting that she and her longtime boyfriend, Richard Baptiste, again, This is Rebecca's father, were trying to get help for an unresponsive 10-year-old girl. Now, there was this explanation that their family had just moved from Phoenix to a rural part of Apache County, so they didn't have cell phone service at the yurt where they were living. They didn't know the best route to take to a hospital, so they just started driving. But there were already red flags going up, especially when you hear how Woods spoke with dispatchers. Do you know how to administer CPR?

Yes, I do. unfortunately. Are you wanted to say CPR? Are you waiting for EMS? I'm waiting for them because I'm trying to get breath. So EMTs, they met Woods and Baptiste on the side of the road. They see Rebecca was lying unconscious near the car. Her two younger brothers sat there terrified.

And as paramedics performed CPR, an officer tried to get straight answers out of Baptiste and Woods about what happened here. But you can see on the body cam footage that they're not really much help. How long has it been since you found her in response? responsive. We don't know. The neighbor brought her. When did a neighbor bring her? It's 1148. It had it with probably close to 11. At least 30. At least 30. What's your neighbor's name? I don't know. I just moved out here. Most of the people that, most of the people that I know are relatives of my my uncle who died. So I'm still getting used to the Who's child?

That's fine. Is that hers too? No, no, that's my girlfriend. Okay. Do you get her ID? No. Her name's a... I gotta get her ID.

Oh, I'm sorry, I thought he's not going to be. You guys might have been closer to Concho. We didn't know Concho had a facility that would be able to handle this. Right, well, EMS. EMS would be closer. That's what I was hauling ass to was the EMS center down there past the overpass. That's a good phone number for you. And she's been running away. She ran away this morning. She ran away this morning. We went out and tried to find her. And she's been running away for the last, like, three or four weeks since we've been here. She ran away this morning. We went out and tried to find her, and our neighbor found her. What time this morning?

We got up about 9.30, so it would have been close to 10.30. So you guys saw her the night before? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We were all, we all sleep. sleep in the same, same building. Okay. And then, so you said she ran around that morning and you guys were trying to find her? Yeah, this morning, yeah, this morning, yeah. And you guys went out trying to find her. And then your neighbors found her?

Neighbor found her, yeah. Okay, what were they doing down there? How'd they find her? They were on quads. They were on their quads, okay. And then they brought her to you? Yeah. At your house?

Yeah, well, it technically was my great uncles. He died recently, so we moved in there. Okay. So that's kind of how people know us up there. Did she have any signs of life when she brought? when she got brought to you? She was almost basically like this. She was slightly responsive.

She was still breathing on her own. What are you explaining me what you mean, responsive? Like she was just breathing on her own. Breathing on her own? That was about it. And then as we were driving this way, started seeing color change in her lips.

And we were just fucking hauling it. Okay. You said she had... Yeah, she got that when she was in Phoenix. Okay. She, um, she ran away... Do you guys take her to get treated for it? Yes.

She has a primary care, and then she also did a... seven-day state, down in Phoenix City. Okay. Not for, not for that, but just for a prior incident. Okay. And explain to me what you're going through. You said she's diagnosed with what? Explain that to me. Um, okay. Um, she's on, she was on three different medications before we left. Uh, I care of over the third one right now. But it's been a little bit, but since she's been on her medication since we moved up here. So according to the couple, Rebecca had this apparent history of behavioral problems and running away.

They claim that she was supposed to be taking some sort of medication, but that she hadn't been on it for a few weeks because of the move. So first responders, they rush Rebecca to multiple trauma centers, trying to save her life, but she dies a few days after they found her on the side of the road. Baptiste and Woods, they were arrested. They were eventually charged with first-degree murder, child abuse, molestation of a child. Investigators who spoke with Rebecca's brothers determined that Rebecca was likely not the couple's only victim. The younger boys referred to as KB1 and KB2 in court paperwork and hearings they allegedly experienced abuse too.

And as news of Rebecca's tragic death and her father and his girlfriend's arrest spread, records started to become public that indicated or allegedly indicated. Baptists had been a focus of the Arizona Department of Child Safety for quite some time. And now what do we have? Now we have this newly released police report that details the lengths that Rebecca allegedly went to to try to get away. The report seemingly reinforces testimony given by the lead case agent from the Apache County Sheriff's Office, Cole Soderquist. So R.B had jumped out of a two-story window of an apartment complex. She had ran to at least one homeless person that she saw asking for help and then ran to the QT. And when she ran, can you describe what the QT is for those who may not know?

A quick trip convenience store. And so when she ran to the QT convenience store, did she provide any information? Yes, she had told the manager that she was being abused by her stepmother, and so he called the police. So she said that she was being abused by her stepmother, so law enforcement was called. Yes. And so at that time, based on your review of the report, did she give any information as to what she meant by abuse? I would have to refer to the report for exact details.

She was transported to the Phoenix Children's Hospital because of the visible bruising, and she had told the officers that she had to do planks and run laps as well as being hit on top of her hands and feet with a brush. So the release of this October incident report, it also calls attention to the fact that at least 12 reports, were made to the Department of Child Safety over the years. This is according to the agency, and this raises obviously concerns about Rebecca's safety. So to help me analyze this, the implications of this latest information, could it play into the criminal case and what we should be making of this? I want to bring in practice professor of law, former child abuse prosecutor, Marion Bracha.

Thank you so much for taking the time. Really appreciate it. I think to start off, when we hear about these allegations, and it is really tough to try to understand that, right? you hear about possible child abuse being reported, nothing apparently being done to keep her safe. She ends up dead. I think it's important for our viewers to understand what is that relationship between authorities, prosecutors, the state agency, right, DCS investigators, what is that relationship like?

Yeah, and that's a great question, a great place to start. And I think that that is the origin of likely a lot of frustration that the public has with public agencies like this. The fact that the prosecutor's office acts on information from police, police would act on information that comes to them from the agency or from school or from a complainant if they have access to the child themselves personally. Of course, the school acts on information from the child, which then gets passed along to the agency. It feels like there is a lot of whisper down the lane and a lot of administrative loopholes through which children like Rebecca can slip through the crack.

And that, I think, is where a lot of the frustration and where a lot of the child advocacy calls for reform have originated. And just to be clear, I know it might differ state to state, but legally speaking, is there an incentive? Is there a priority? Is there a standard for state agencies to maintain the family, right? They won't interfere. They won't take a child away unless it's a body.

abundantly clear that child is being abused? Is that like there's an there's a priority to keep the family together. Am I wrong about that? You are not wrong about that and you're absolutely right again that it does vary state by state in Arizona. If you look at the language, the primary goal or primary objective of DCS is to keep families together. So there is an inclination to not remove a child from from a care. parent or from a biological parent unless there is an imminent threat of abuse that is substantiated. And that's where the language gets very circular and very confusing. And, you know, frankly, where a lot of these investigations end up going cold. So I want to go into this.

The Phoenix Police Incident Report, which was reviewed by Arizona Media Outlets, Arizona Family, Fox 10, ABC 15. It was put together after Rebecca showed up at a gas station in October of 2020. for. So this is about nine months before she died. And she reportedly approached strangers near the convenience store, including a homeless man, begging for help, eventually telling the store manager that her stepmother was abusing her. She was taken to Phoenix Children's Hospital. Eventually, she spoke with police. Fox 10 reports that Rebecca had a bloody lip, bruising on her hands and feet. She claimed that Woods had punished her for pretending to be asleep. She said Woods made her run laps, hit her with a brush on the back of her hand. The record reportedly states the officer observed,

quote, faint bruising and marks on the back of both of her hands. She also stated she was hit with a brush and a belt on her feet and pointed out bruising and red marks on both of her feet. It has happened a lot. Okay, professor, I'm a little confused here, right? So if this is documented and you're seeing injuries, what would be the appropriate course of action at this point in time? is it just you take the injuries, you take the child's account, or does there need to be, and we'll talk about what happened next, but does there need to be verification from the alleged abuser? I mean, what happens next in a situation like this? Right. Well, there doesn't necessarily need to be an acknowledgement or verification from the

alleged abuser. There does need to be some finding of a substantiated imminent threat. And what that means is, again, that can vary in this. particular instance, it could have meant that the caseworker observed abuse, a physical assault or abusive behavior happening in real time between Rebecca and her father or stepmother. It could mean that the parents or the, again, the father or the stepmother were not in a position to care for Rebecca, meaning that they were incarcerated or hospitalized or otherwise incapacitated or under the influence of some intoxicated. complicating substance that would render them incapable of caring or attending to her supporting

care. But again, this is where it gets circular. So your listeners and your viewers are right to feel frustrated to say, but you've got to be kidding me. There are bruises. There are indication that this child maybe was in a healing state that she had previously been injured and then nothing happened from that point going forward. And you're absolutely right.

But again, this is where the past, the buck might come in to play, where the agency can say, well, the legislature in Arizona has told us that we can't do anything unless the abuse is imminent, meaning that it's happening right now or is going to happen. If I have a probable cause to believe that this abuse is going to happen if I return the child at this moment on this occasion to this caregiver. And again, the tendency or the inclination is to keep these families united. So the agency is going to say until the legislature changes their language, there's nothing we can do to remove a child absent more evidence. Let me just amplify that because the outlets that reviewed this report said that Woods actually was interviewed by police insisted that this little girl, that Rebecca was actually hurting herself, right? that this was a case of self-harm with a brush the night before she ran away. According to police, the incident didn't lead to any kind of criminal prosecution because Rebecca provided, quote, various iterations of the story.

So there was, you know, apparently conflicting accounts. And Woods had swore that she wasn't abusing the girl. The report notes that there was no witnesses to any physical discipline. Is that make sense to you? I mean, again, no further action because this, I mean, she's a young woman. witness to this. You see the bruises, but if you're having the caregiver say, hey, listen, she's doing this to herself and we don't have anything else to corroborate it. That's it. From a citizen's perspective, from a human perspective, from certainly a parent's perspective,

this is mind-boggling and frustrating to me from a legal and an administrative perspective, unfortunately, the boxes are checked here, meaning that if police investigated, if they're They had some other explanation that was provided by an otherwise ostensibly cooperative suspect or targeted the investigation who provided an explanation, saying that the child engaged in self-harm and that that's where these injuries were coming from. And then, of course, to have a young child and anyone who's worked with child witnesses or who's worked with any child will know that children do often have a hard time keeping a narrative consistent, you know, telling a straight story that they maybe change words or go through various iterations that doesn't make the reporting untruthful though so again even when it comes to law enforcement investigators when they have one ostensibly allegedly valid exclamation from the adult suspect and then various iterations from the would-be child complainant they're going to say well we don't have

enough to hang our hat on here to take this to a magistrate for an affidavit or and a warrant a probable cause to arrest. So we're going to refer this back to Child Services. And again, Child Services says, well, we don't have a substantiated complaint, so there's nothing we can do in terms of removal. And this is where that vicious cycle comes in, where everyone gets really frustrated with administrative red tape. And here's the thing.

ABC 15 notes that the report mentions that the Arizona Department of Child Safety had, quote, multiple previous incidents involving Rebecca and her brothers. Apparently, the DCS investigator told authorities that, yes, There were multiple reports, but that this little girl was doing this to herself and was then blaming Woods. So, Professor, let me ask you this as we go through this and we talk about were there warning signs, were the reports that could have been followed up. Is a potential, first of all, can any of this come into the criminal case involving Baptiste and Woods? Could they say, hey, listen, you know, look, this was investigated. Nobody thought anything bad was going on.

We're going to go forward with a defense that any injury sustained were a result of this little girl. Is this potentially evidence in a criminal case as we think about it? So I can envision a world where both the defense and the prosecution want this evidence in. It's what we call other act evidence. So it would be testimony or evidence about instances outside of the day or this specific occasion that cost Rebecca for life. And so the defense would want to. it because, again, it shows would be cooperative with the investigation.

It shows her sitting down with police and with investigators providing an explanation. It shows repeatedly these social service agencies and law enforcement saying, well, there's not enough evidence and there's nothing we can do, which from a defense perspective, they could take to a jury and say, if the police didn't have enough

evidence, then do we really have enough evidence now to convict? Is that a winning argument? I'm not sure. That would be up to a jury to listen to. But at the same time, I could imagine a prosecutor saying, well, we want this evidence in as well. We want the jury to hear about these repeated investigations, these repeated reports of abuse because there is what's known as a course of conduct. We have Woods and Rebecca's biological father engaging in repeated behavior to discipline, to punish, to torture,

to abuse this child. And that all goes into what we've, we'd call the story of the case to explain just how every support in Rebecca's life or supposed support in Rebecca's life really fell through and allowed this to happen. Now, the Phoenix Police Department, in fact, they confirmed that they made five separate reports to DCS concerning the children, and none of those reports led to criminal charges. August 2018, apparently it was a welfare check. You had investigators contact DCS. December 2023, there was a welfare check. Police contacted DCS. Detectives also got in touch with DCS.

February 24, police reach out to the family for an accidental injury. DCS was also contacted. November 2024, officers were looking into this allegation, this claim of child abuse and neglect. Detectives notified DCS April 2025. Police investigated a minor injury to child. detectives who followed up they then contacted DCS professor what stands out to you about any of that is that again is this similar to what we're talking about as we're trying to understand that relationship between authorities and DCS trying to investigate this it is alarming talk to me about those five separate incidents from police well I think my my response and my reaction to

that is when is enough enough when is there enough of a concern for law enforcement and for DCS to reach out to, say, an advocacy group, to have an advocate appointed to this child, to have a guardian ad litem even if there is no litigation pending. How many times do police have to respond or how many reports does the school need to make or how many reports does DCS need to receive in order to say, you know what, something's not right in this household? There is something that is a myth and we should keep a closer on it. So instead of jumping immediately to child removal, why are there not different steps, different levels of DCS involvement with a family instead of just saying, well, here's a

brochure, here are some social services that might help you, which, by the way, have been found to be not particularly helpful to families because the information provided isn't clear or perhaps isn't written in suitable language or suitable reading levels. But instead of just passing off a sheet of paper or saying, we can't jump to the extreme step of removal. Why are there no intermediate steps to make sure that someone is attending to Rebecca and making sure that she is safe and supported? And by the way, so it wasn't just this little girl who apparently reported what was happening to her or allegedly happening to her. You don't only have police, okay? You got to talk about

the school. So administrators at Rebecca's former school, this is in Power College Prep, they reveal to 12 news that the school had called the child abuse hotline 12 times claim that a school resource officer observed injuries during a home visit when Rebecca was absent from school for a long period of time. You have Natalina Mariscal, the Empowers Director of Student Services, who said that Rebecca and her brothers had these bruises, black eye, complained of being hungry. She told 12 news the fact that there were clear marks on these students and statements of feeling unsafe. And again, what feels like nothing was done, or minimal intervention was done, it's just a difficult pill to swallow.

Now, DCS has only acknowledged five school-initiated contacts with only one of those reports, meaning the correct criteria to open an investigation. The department released a statement after Rebecca's death, saying it is with a heavy heart that we acknowledge the death of Rebecca Baptiste, a child who is known to the department. Anytime a child in our community is harmed, it deeply affects us all, especially when we know the family. Our dedicated staff work tirelessly to ensure the safety of all children, but tragically, those who intend to harm children can sometimes evade even the most robust systems designed to protect them. In response to this incident, the department is actively

collaborating with law enforcement in a joint investigation to ensure that the people responsible for this heinous act are brought to justice. Now it goes on to say the department would like to correct some information made public by other sources related to the death of the of Rebecca Baptiste. According to department records in Power School called the hotline five times in the past year, and one time the allegations met statutory report criteria. The other four times the department was not able

to investigate the allegations because they did not meet the statutory threshold for abuse or neglect. We do not have any records that a relative called the hotline after 2019 to allege abuse or neglect of Rebecca or her siblings. Now, Professor, that was part of the statement, Seems like there's, I don't know, my opinion, finger pointing going on here.

I guess the two questions I have are, A, what do you make of that statement and the idea of when they can actively get involved? And B, what does it mean that they cooperate with law enforcement in an investigation? What does that look like? So you're absolutely right when you say, you know, a lot of finger pointing and I might use the expression, you know, passing the buck. So it sounds a lot like the school is saying we are mandatory reporters. We did what we needed to do when we made the observations that we made, when we had the concerns or the suspicions that we had. We passed it on to DCF.

And DCF, again, is saying we couldn't do what the public or what the school wanted us to do because of the statutory limitations that have been placed on us and on our operations by the legislature, by the Arizona State Legislature. And so there, again, is this cycle of saying, well, we couldn't. We couldn't, we couldn't, we couldn't act, we couldn't endeavor, we couldn't advocate, we couldn't do the thing that would have or could have saved Rebecca's life. And so, you know, it sounds like at every level, the investigators, the people, the systems that were in place and were involved in investigating Rebecca's situation, you know,

are essentially saying, we checked the boxes that we needed to check, we fulfilled our obligation, you know, met our threshold really didn't go above and beyond because we couldn't statutorily, because our hands are metaphorically bound by the language that's out there in either, again, the state legislature or in our operating function. Now, the state has reportedly launched an investigation into the Department of Child Safety. There are plans to continue the investigation in the new legislative session. It's not just because of the Baptiste case. There appears to be maybe parent systemic problems.

You have State Representative Walter Blackman. State Representative Lisa Fink told ABC15 that DCS already knows there are issues with its child abuse hotline, that there's long wait times, there are missed calls. But the legislature wants to get administrators on the record under oath to explain what's being done to address all this. There are a series of hearings that are expected to start soon. You have Representative Blackman saying if we find anything that's negligent, we will point that out. If we find anything criminal, we're going to refer those criminal acts to the Department of Justice. What does that mean to you, Professor? What can realistically happen here?

What does that mean to me? Unfortunately, as a cynic, it sounds like a lot more administrative go-around. It sounds like a lot more administrative red tape. It sounds like we'll hold some hearings and, you know, do some digging and find out where the holes in the system are. you know, hopefully on a more optimistic note, I can say, I would venture to say that this situation and other children who have experienced the same as Rebecca Sativ were not lost in vain that perhaps they serve as the catalyst to reform this system and to improve this system so that other children don't also slip through the cracks and incur the same fate.

But, you know, at the same time, there are resources and financial considerations and political considerations. And I'm hoping, I'm hopeful that this response, you know, by a multi-party, by a multi-agency system isn't just to ward off the media attention that's now on it because of these current charges. and that eventually those who really did neglect Rebecca when she needed the most are called to task. What would be criminal? What would be something that would be a potential criminal charge, a cover-up? It could certainly, if there is evidence of a cover-up, that could certainly result in criminal charges against individuals from VCS, against supervisors, against administrators, against specific caseworkers.

There has been other instances of that, not necessarily in Arizona specifically, Pennsylvania. Where I teach in practice, I can think of one in particular fairly notorious case where DHS or same thing, child protective workers were held criminally liable, criminally negligent for failing to attend to the needs of a dependent child. So there is precedent for that, and there are certainly criminal standards that would allow for charging for a criminally negligent oversight of a dependent person. All right. Well, let's see what happens. I'll tell you, we know what immediately happen. Baptiste Woods, their criminal case, because that's still going on, according to ABC 15,

these co-defendants, they're scheduled to go to trial in June. We'll see if that happens. We'll see if deals are reached beforehand. But this is just another layer to what is a very, very disturbing and tragic case. Professor, Marion Brochow, thank you so much for taking the time. Really appreciate it, as always. Thanks, Jesse. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcast.

You can follow me on X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.