ODESSA, Texas — Two people were arrested in Ector County on November 21 on capital murder of a person under the age of 10 and injury to a child charges.
The mother, Megan Lange, and the stepfather, Rodolfo Reyes, have been accused of strangling their 8-year-old son to death.
According to the arrest affidavit, deputies were called to 2003 N. Huntington in Odessa on Nov. 5 in regard to an unresponsive child. When they arrived, Odessa Fire Rescue was already performing lifesaving actions on the 8-year-old who was soon after transported to Medical Center Hospital.
After arriving at MCH, the 8-year-old boy succumbed to his injuries and the ECSO Investigators began an investigation. When they saw the boy, they noticed suspicious injuries throughout his body in the head, legs and back area.
The investigators contacted Lange, who said she was helping her son to the bathroom and after he was done, they went to the living room. Lange and her son were talking in the living room when his head fell back, and he was no longer breathing. which led to her calling 9-1-1.
Investigators later talked with Reyes who was willing to provide statement. He said that he did not cause the bodily injury to the 8-year-old boy but was in the house on the day of the boy's death.
Investigators later found out through an autopsy report that the boy showed hemorrhaging on his neck and was malnourished. A forensic pathologist would label the cause of death to be asphyxiation by manual strangulation with the underlying causes of neglect.
After doing an investigation, the ECSO did feel that Reyes and Lange should be charged with capital murder of a child under the age of 10 and injury to a child.
Bond has been set for both Lange and Reyes. They both have a surety bond set at $2,000,000 for the capital murder charge and a surety bond set at $1,000,000 for the injury to a child charge.
We will continue to update this story as we receive more information.
(Editor's Note: Previous mugshots in this article were from a prior arrest for both Lange and Reyes. The mugshots seen above are from their current arrests.)