"Attentive" full-time caretaker dad arrested in death of 1-year-old daughter (Alliance, Ohio)

Everybody's just falling all over themselves on what a great dad MARIANO PASTOR-LUX was. I mean, he was so "good" and "attentive" and all. Not only that, he had everybody convinced that he was a better parent than Mom, who had left him (or was driven out) two weeks ago--barely after giving birth. One question: if Dad is so great, why did he bash a 1-month-old baby into a wall and kill her?

This guy is the epitome of the manipulative "smother dad" who is not only abusive, but manages to convince everybody how marvelous he is (and how awful mom is) at the same time. Note that Dad has been accused of physical abuse before, not that anybody seemed to notice. Quite an act.

http://www.cantonrep.com/communities/alliance/x931238365/Mom-says-words-cant-describe-loss-of-baby-found-dead?view=print

Neighbors saw attentive father in man accused in baby's death
By Malcolm Hall and Shane Hoover
CantonRep.com staff report
Posted Jul 17, 2009 @ 05:43 PM
Last update Jul 17, 2009 @ 09:50 PM

ALLIANCE —
Neighbors of Mariano Pastor-Lux describe him as an attentive father who normally was at the home in the 500 block of S. Arch Avenue which he shared with three children.

But while Pastor-Lux’s neighbors reflect on what happened earlier this week when his 1-month-old daughter, Mia Pastor, suffered a fractured skull and died, the 31-year-old man remains in the Stark County Jail facing felony charges of involuntary manslaughter and child endangering.

Police suspect Pastor-Lux struck Mia’s head against a wall. The child was pronounced dead Wednesday afternoon at Alliance Community Hospital.

One neighbor, Nicholas Fields, placed the 911 telephone call at Pastor-Lux’s request.

“He said his baby is dying,” said Fields, who lives across the street in the 500 block of S. Arch Avenue. “When I went to the house the baby was just laying there. I know he takes care of his kids. He doesn’t hardly leave the house because the kids are there. He is always there with the kids. I don’t know how they could charge him with that. He is a good father.”

During an arraignment Friday , Municipal Court Judge Robert Lavery set bond for Pastor-Lux at $1.25 million.

Police, who were contacted after Mia was taken to Alliance Community Hospital, arrested Pastor-Lux Wednesday.

“He admitted that he had struck the child’s head,” police Sgt. David Bair said. “He said he stumbled forward; that is when he struck the child’s head against the door frame. She had a skull fracture that started at the top of her head and went down below her left ear to her jaw line. His statement was accidental. The severity of the injury there is no way it was accidental. The injuries are consistent with her head hitting a flat stationary object.”

Pastor-Lux is native of Guatemala. The child’s mother is Rhonda Kaiser, 26, who appeared in Stark County Family Court in Canton on Friday afternoon.

“Words cannot describe the feeling a mother goes through regarding the loss of a child, especially a child this young,” Kaiser also of Alliance, said in a statement released through her attorney, Rodney Baca.“She’s having an extremely hard time coping with it,” Baca added.

Judge Jim D. James allowed Kaiser to retain custody of her two surviving daughters subject to protective supervision by the Stark County Department of Job and Family Services.

Pastor-Lux is scheduled to be in Family Court on Monday.

Meanwhile, another of Pastor-Lux’s neighbors, Julie Heath of the 600 block of S. Arch Avenue, recalled the commotion of Wednesday at the Pastor-Lux residence after the child was rushed to the hospital.

“He ran out in the middle of the road yelling at some woman saying, ‘This is your fault!’” Heath said. “It is just a shame that somebody would hurt their baby like that. I always heard shouting and stuff like that.”

Bair said police heard reports that Rhonda Kaiser arrived at the S. Arch Avenue residence Wednesday.

One neighbor, Sarah Brown of the 600 block of S. Arch Avenue, recalls Pastor-Lux seeming to be more attentive to the children than the mother.

“The mom just had the baby and she was back out on the streets,” Brown said. “She just dropped the 1-month-old daughter off with the father and left. The father would always be outside watching the kids.”

Pastor-Lux and Kaiser had lived together at the S. Arch Avenue apartment, but Kaiser told investigators that she had ended their relationship and moved out with her three children two weeks ago, according to a complaint filed by the Stark County Department of Job and Family Services.

On Tuesday night, Kaiser left her girls — a 3-year-old, a 1-year-old and a 1-month-old — with Pastor-Lux, according to the complaint. Kaiser’s fourth child lives with the father in another county.

Kaiser’s family “never knew this man to have a violent nature or to abuse any of the children,” Baca said.

Kaiser told investigators that she never had problems with Pastor-Lux caring for the children, but in 2006 the oldest of her four children went to live with the father due to Pastor-Lux becoming physical with the child, according to the complaint.