New details have emerged about the abuse a 10-year-old suffered before she was found unresponsive at an Arizona intersection.
On July 27, police in Holbrook, Arizona, found Rebekah Baptiste unresponsive at the intersection of two highways.
According to prosecutors, she was dehydrated, malnourished, and missing her toenails. Her uncle, Damon Hawkins, told AZ Family she was “black and blue from her head to toe” with two black eyes.
“She had two black eyes, and they’re thinking the cause of death was because of a hemorrhage,” Hawkins said.
Three days later, on July 30, she sadly passed away.
Her father, 32-year-old Richard Baptiste, and his girlfriend, 29-year-old Anicia Woods, have been arrested and charged with first-degree murder and child abuse.
Prosecutors claim Rebekah endured “long-term, horrendous abuse” and had been physically and sexually assaulted, per PEOPLE.
Court records show she died from severe brain bleeding that left her brain-dead.
A newly released 911 call paints a disturbing picture of Rebekah’s final moments. The woman who called — not confirmed to be Woods — told dispatchers the girl had run away for the third time in a week, per FOX 10.
“She ran away for the third time in a week in the desert, and when the neighbors found her in the wash, she was unresponsive completely,” the caller said.
She claimed Rebekah “still hasn’t even, like, really bounced back from the first time” she ran away.
“But when the neighbor found her, said that she was just almost gasping,” the woman continued. “By the time she got back to the house, she was barely breathing, so I’m breathing for her now. She’s unresponsive, unconscious, and unable to breathe for herself.”
When asked if she knew CPR, the woman replied: “Yes, I do, unfortunately.”
Sirens can be heard approaching as the call ends.
Rebekah had been living in a remote desert home with Baptiste and Woods. But her school, Empower College Prep, had long raised red flags.
According to ABC15, the school called the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) 12 times between November 2023 and January 2025 about her welfare.
DCS confirmed to People that five calls had been made in the last year, but said: “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.”
The department is now “actively collaborating with law enforcement in a joint investigation to ensure that the people responsible for this heinous act are brought to justice.”
Staff at Empower College Prep described Rebekah as bright and eager — a student who had won many awards.
Baptiste and Woods remain in jail without bond. Attorney information for the pair is not yet available, and court records do not indicate pleas.