A Bluffdale couple is being held without bail after their three-month-old son was found pale, unresponsive and not breathing in their bed, marking the second time in two years that an infant in their care has died. Christina Joy Patton, 39, and Nicholas Patrick Romero, 40, were arrested on suspicion of second-degree felony child abuse homicide following the death of their son, identified as Atreyu Nick Romero.
According to abc4.com, officers responded to a home at 1561 West Napa Avenue in Bluffdale regarding an unresponsive three-month-old infant. KUTV reports that Bluffdale police responded to a home near 1500 West Napa Avenue, and Bluffdale Police Sgt. Carl Hamer said officers first responded to reports of an unresponsive infant at 5:20 a.m. on October 7, per a separate account from kjzz.com. Patton and Romero told investigators that the infant had pink-colored fluid coming from his nose and mouth, and the parents said they attempted CPR on the baby while Romero called 911, abc4.com reported. Despite life-saving measures, Atreyu was pronounced dead.
Night of Drinking Before the Baby Was Found Unresponsive
Court documents allege that both parents had been drinking before they went to sleep with the infant in their bed on October 6. Patton told investigators she drank whiskey between 7 and 11 p.m. and reported consuming three to four shots, according to court documents cited by abc4.com. Romero initially told investigators he'd had two alcoholic drinks before amending his statement to say he had consumed four to five shots of whiskey, and he also reported using marijuana after work that evening, per the seed reporting from KUTV.
Romero told investigators he fell asleep around 11:45 p.m. after preparing a bottle of formula and placing the infant in a Boppy-type pillow positioned between the two parents, propping the bottle for the baby while he was on the pillow. When the baby started crying around 1:30 a.m., Patton said she removed him from the pillow, unwrapped his swaddle and placed him on her chest to comfort him, the same abc4.com report states. She later moved him onto her right arm, and the infant remained on or against her body for several hours.
Timeline Before Police Responded
KUTV’s account of the affidavits states that Romero woke up at approximately 5:15 a.m. for work and noticed the infant positioned toward Patton’s body. Bluffdale police said officers responded to the home at 5:20 a.m. on October 7 after receiving reports of an unresponsive infant. KUTV reported that the infant’s official cause of death had not been released.
Investigators also said they found multiple empty alcohol containers near the infant's bed and suspected drug paraphernalia elsewhere in the home. Patton told investigators she had taken prescribed Adderall and buprenorphine/suboxone, and her preliminary breath test came back at 0.011, while Romero refused a preliminary breath test, according to facts included in the seed reporting. Investigators obtained blood samples from both parents for additional testing.
A Second Infant Death in Two Years
Court documents noted that this is the second infant death involving Patton and Romero in two years, a detail the couple’s earlier case is said to support. The pair have a separate pending case involving the death of a previous infant, a daughter named Catherine Irene Romero, who was born July 19, 2024, and died on October 24, 2024, at approximately three months old. According to an obituary, Catherine had a cleft palate, a recessed jaw and feeding difficulties that required a feeding tube. That 2024 case remains separate and pending, KUTV reported.
Court documents describe the earlier death as evidence the parents had “knowledge and awareness of the risks associated with unsafe infant sleeping practices,” abc4.com reported. Investigators allege that both parents acted with criminal negligence and that they created and disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk to their son's life. Investigators believe that the parents' alcohol or substance consumption, their decision to sleep with the infant in an adult bed, their use of a Boppy-type pillow, and their prior knowledge of unsafe sleeping risks all contributed to a substantial danger to Atreyu.
Nicholas Romero had announced his son's birth on Facebook on July 18, writing that their son was “handpicked by his big sister in heaven,” a reference to Catherine's earlier death. The arresting officer requested that both defendants be held without bail or with high bail, and Patton and Romero have since been booked into the Salt Lake County jail, where they remain without bail. Atreyu's official cause of death has not been released by authorities.
Unsafe Sleep Is a Statewide Pattern
The case echoes a broader pattern documented in state data. A Utah Department of Health and Human Services report covering 2019 through 2023 found that 93.5% of sleep-related infant deaths with complete case information occurred in an unsafe sleep environment, according to abc4.com. The same report found that 75% of Utah infants who died in sleep-related incidents were found with soft bedding in their sleep space, and 66% were found in places not approved for infant sleep.
A similar case surfaced this summer in Murray, where Neal English Colby, 42, was charged with child abuse homicide and child endangerment resulting in death, both first-degree felonies, in connection with the death of his seven-month-old daughter Celia Aurora Colby, according to ksl.com. Police in that case alleged Colby left the infant unsupervised for 43 minutes, and the Utah State Medical Examiner's Office certified the manner of her death as unable to be determined. Prosecutors in the Colby case requested he be denied bail pending trial, the same outlet reported.
