The mother of a 21-month-old boy who died last week was charged on Tuesday with first-degree murder.
By: Sarah Winkelman
EAST WINDSOR A township woman was charged with first-degree murder on Tuesday in the June 4 death of her 21-month-old son.
Handcuffed and wearing a dark green jumpsuit, Maritza J. Soto, 27, was arraigned at the township police station at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. She did not say a word as her lawyer read her not-guilty plea to Judge David A. Saltman.
Ms. Soto was charged with first-degree murder and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the death of her son, Daniel Soto. Earlier Tuesday bail was set by Mercer County state Superior Court Judge Maryann K. Bielamowicz at $500,000. Judge Saltman continued that bail at Tuesday night’s arraignment.
She was transferred Tuesday night from East Windsor to the Mercer County Corrections Center in Titusville.
According to a press release from the Mercer County prosecutor’s office, Dr. Raafat Ahmad, Mercer County medical examiner, began the autopsy Friday morning and concluded Monday afternoon. After consulting with the New Jersey State Police and Dr. Elizabeth Susan Hodgson, medical director of the Dorothy B. Hersh Child Protection Center, the death was determined a homicide, due to massive internal bleeding due to a tear of the right atria and bruising of the lungs, a result of blunt force trauma.
On June 4, at 8:19 p.m., the East Windsor Township Police Department was dispatched to the Windsor Regency Apartments on Gardenview Terrance East for an toddler in respiratory arrest. The officers, Sgt. Richard Bernstein and Patrolmen Michael Sapp, James May and Scott Brown, found Daniel unresponsive with visible injuries to various parts of his body.
Daniel was taken, by ambulance, to CentraState Medical Center in Freehold. He was pronounced dead in the emergency room at 9:25 p.m.
If Ms. Soto is convicted, she faces a prison term of 30 years to life and would be required to serve 85 percent of that sentence before being eligible for parole, according to the Mercer County prosecutor’s office press release.
Ms. Soto is scheduled to appear at Mercer County state Superior Court at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

