A Snapshot of a Broken California CPS System-Child Death

Eight-year-old Genesis Mata died on August 2, 2025.

“Police have arrested two people after finding an 8-year-old girl with “substantial trauma” dead and abandoned in a bathtub at a Bakersfield hotel.

Police said Ray Mata Jr., 31, of Bakersfield and Graciela Bustamonte, 27, of Delano were arrested on suspicion of murder, torture and multiple counts of child abuse.”

“At 5:37 p.m. on Saturday, police were called to the La Quinta Inn on Riverside Drive, east of Buck Owens Boulevard, by someone who said they learned secondhand a child may be unconscious and not breathing in a bathtub, according to a Bakersfield Police Department release.”

Officers found the room and knocked on the bathroom door. No one answered and they forced their way in.

The girl was found dead in the bathtub.”

“Police said the investigation led them to Mata and Bustamonte. They were arrested Sunday morning, booking records show.”

“Mata and Bustamonte are due in court Tuesday. A man with the same name and birth year as Mata has prior gun and drug convictions, according to court records. He pleaded no contest last month to carrying a loaded gun without registration and altering a serial number, and in a separate case pleaded no contest to marijuana possession for sale.”

2 arrested on suspicion of murder, torture after girl, 8, found dead in Bakersfield hotel

[KGET 8/3/25. by Jason Kotowski]

“Relatives of the young victim lashed out at Kern County Child Protectives Services, suggesting Genesis might have been saved if social workers had acted on years of complaints.

Genesis’ father and stepmother hid their faces from a courtroom full of furious relatives Tuesday afternoon, as they pleaded not-guilty to seven charges, felony stacked on felony, legal language only hinting at atrocities inflicted on the innocent child.”

“Also among the charges are two counts of torture and two counts of child cruelty. A district attorney spokesman said two counts reflect two separate victims. The identity of the second victim was not revealed, but we know seven children were taken into protective custody after Genesis’ body was discovered.”[7!🫩]

“BPD investigators later said this is one of the worst cases of child abuse they have ever investigated. The hotel manager said Mata and Bustamonte, along with Genesis, have lived at the motel for a little over two months. The manager allowed them to live there for free, after the couple told him they were struggling with money and working to get back on their feet.”

‘The system failed my little cousin’: Family of Genesis Mata says CPS was notified for years of abuse
[KGET 8/6/25. y Connor Dore]

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