Matthew Reisen: Man charged in death of 5-year-old son in TorC
Aug. 14—ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A Truth or Consequences man is accused in the death of his young son, whose body was pulled from the Rio Grande in June near TorC.
Shaquille Ferguson Sr., 27, is charged with reckless abuse of a child resulting in death, child abuse and obstructing the investigation of child abuse or neglect in the June 12 death of Shaquille Ferguson Jr.
Ferguson was booked into the Sierra County Detention Center on Thursday. During their investigation, according to court records, investigators learned that Truth or Consequences police were called to check on the boy before his death but never verified his whereabouts.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed in Magistrate Court:
On June 18, a woman came into the New Mexico State Police office in TorC to report her grandson missing. She told authorities the child disappeared two and a half weeks earlier during a trip to the river.
The grandmother said Ferguson Sr. took her grandson to the river while she sat in the Rotary Park but the father returned alone. She told police Ferguson Sr. would not tell her where her grandson was except to say "he is with family."
Afterward, the grandmother said, Ferguson Sr. grew "erratic" and his mental health "degraded." State Police interviewed Ferguson Sr. and he told them his son was in Colorado with an ex-wife's family but police discovered the family did not exist.
Then, Ferguson Sr. said he, his mother and son went to Rotary Park and he took his son to the river to swim. He told police he put his son on his shoulder and Ferguson Jr. slipped into the water.
Ferguson Sr. said by the time he pulled his son from the river the boy was dead and he left his body on the shore. He told police he went back later but the body was gone.
On June 19, authorities searched the river and found the body of a child seven miles downstream from the Rotary Park. The body could not be identified at that time due to decomposition but was later identified as the child.
A woman who lived at the same hotel as Ferguson Sr. told police that on June 12 she requested a welfare check after she heard the child yelling "I'll behave" and "please let em go." The woman said she saw Ferguson Jr. hogtied on the bed and told Ferguson Sr. to untie him.
"T or C Police Department closed the call for service stating 'everything was 10-4' without physically verifying the child's whereabouts," an officer wrote.
A witness told police that on June 12 he had seen Ferguson Sr. take the boy to the river for a swim at Rotary Park. The man said Ferguson Sr. returned alone 10 minutes later, gave him a "startled look" and did not appear to be wet.
