A 3-year-old boy who was found dead at a Santa Maria apartment allegedly was killed by his foster mother, who also was his biological aunt, police said Friday.

Emergency crews responded at about 3:20 p.m. Wednesday to an apartment in the 1000 block of West Stowell Road, where they found the child wasn't breathing, said Santa Maria police Lt. Dan Ast. Some witnesses said the apartment's address is in the 1000 block of West Liberty Street, which is one block north of Stowell.

The boy, Gilbert Dominguez, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Investigators were called in because of injuries visible on the youngster's body, according to Ast, who described those wounds as “bruising, cuts and visible swelling over the majority of the body.”

The boy's foster mother, 27-year-old Sylvia Marie Dominguez, was arrested on suspicion of murder and willful infliction of injury to a child causing great bodily injury or death. She remained in jail Friday night, a Sheriff's Department official said.

The boy had been under the care of his foster mother for 18 months, Ast said.

He remained mum about the specific cause of death. However, police believe “the child was killed at the hands of his foster mother,” Ast said.

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The county Coroner's Office completed an autopsy on the boy Friday, police said.

“Through the autopsy, no conclusive evidence was found, and further toxicological and lab tests are being conducted and should be forthcoming,” said sheriff's Sgt. Alex Tipolt. “I don't have an estimated time as when those results will be back.”

The District Attorney's Office has reviewed the initial investigation and filed one count of murder and one count of willful infliction of injury upon a child proximately causing great bodily injury or death, police said. The charges carry a penalty of 25 years to life in prison.

Dominguez's three biological children - ages 10 months, 2 years and 7 years - have been placed into foster care, according to Ast. He declined to say if anyone else lived in the residence.

The dead boy was in the foster care system through Santa Barbara County. Officials with the county Social Services Department couldn't be reached for comment late Friday afternoon.

So far this year, Santa Maria has had three separate homicide incidents, accounting for six victims.

On March 18, a shooting at Black Road Auto left four people dead - the owner, two employees and a customer.

In early May, an Allan Hancock College football player, set to transfer to Tennessee State University this fall, was shot in an alley on East Main Street.

Ast said the high number of homicides thus far is an anomaly, adding that typically the city's police officers handle cases of just two or three people murdered annually.

Janene Scully can be reached at 739-2214 or janscully@santamariatimes.com.

June 14, 2008