American parents face torture, attempted murder charges after 10-month-old baby found with broken limbs, apparent lighter burn

By Edward Era Barbacena 

Smells of urine and feces wafted from a Bakersfield couple’s home, according to Kern County Sheriff’s deputies, who were investigating the alleged torture and attempted murder of an approximately 1-month-old boy.

Cockroaches scuttled along a wall near a baby’s crib and dog feces piled on the bedroom floor, deputies said. The walls of a home Jorge Millan, 23, and Elizabeth Jara, 22, shared with other family members had holes, according to field case reports filed by KCSO in Kern County Superior Court.

Deputies examined the home in 2021 after medical staff found Millan and Jara’s child suffering two broken arms, a broken femur, blood in his lungs, broken ribs, bruises and a foot apparently burned by a lighter, according to a probable cause declaration filed in court.

The parents have pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, torture and willful cruelty to a child. A jury trial in their case was pushed from Monday until Aug. 14 because a prosecutor on the case was engaged in another trial, according to Kern County District Attorney spokeswoman Daniela Gonzaga.

Neither parent had an explanation for the child’s numerous injuries when interviewed by deputies, according to court documents.

Millan said he was never physically abusive to his children and never saw Jara hurt their children, he said.

The 23-year-old noted to deputies he saw his parents accidentally knock over an air conditioning unit, causing the fan to come out, according to reports. Millan added he caught the fan before it hit his child, but the baby was crying after the unit fell on him, the reports said.

Jara didn’t think their child needed to go to a doctor after the incident, Millan said. He thought any swelling — which deputies said later was actually fractures — was caused by a spider bite because he killed a spider near the child’s bassinet. The child woke up with bruising around his eye and the apparent burn caused by a lighter, Millan said, according to the court reports.

The father said he has anger issues, but would never take it out on his kids. The mother, Jara, however, is bipolar and has a history of domestic violence incidents, Millan told deputies in the court reports.

“Even I don’t like when she’s mad, she will (expletive) me up,” Millan told deputies, according to court reports. “I am scared of her.”

The mother, when interviewed by deputies, said she was afraid of Millan’s abuse and was afraid to leave him, according to court reports. She’s never seen him act abusive toward their kids, but noted Millan was too rough when changing their son’s diaper. He would pick up their son off a table by both legs, deputies wrote.

“Based on the information provided and the severity of (the child’s) injuries, I believed Jara was either aware (of the child) being abused and failed to act or she was party to the abuse,” the court reports said.

The parents have a 1-year-old daughter as well. Deputies found three dogs and six puppies in the parents’ home when they investigated.