GUILTY MI - Aiyana Cisneros, 2, beaten to death, Grand Rapids, 19 July 2005

Hector Cisneros visited his 2-year-old daughter's grave after learning the girl's mother had been charged with killing her.

He didn't celebrate Thanksgiving Day, but he and his new wife were still thankful -- that the alleged killer of little Aiyana Cisneros didn't get to celebrate, either.

Aiyana's mother, Samantha Pauline Winkler, 20, was to be arraigned today in Grand Rapids District Court on a charge of second-degree murder in the July 19 slaying.

Grand Rapids police arrested her Wednesday at a relative's home near Rockford after obtaining a warrant. She was being held at the Kent County Jail.

Aiyana died of repeated blows to her chest and abdomen, which led to internal bleeding, police have said. Her death certificate shows she was injured two days before she died.

Police said they had investigated a complaint of possible abuse several weeks before the death after emergency room doctors found a bruise near the girl's pelvis. The girl was returned to her mother after police and protective services workers found no evidence of abuse, police said.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-26/1132933626135430.xml&coll=6

A woman accused of murdering her 2-year-old daughter was charged only so detectives could "squeeze" her into talking about what really happened to the girl, the woman's father said Friday.

Paul Winkler said his daughter, Samantha Winkler, 20, loved little Aiyana and could not have beaten her to death. She doesn't know how her girl died, he said.

Aiyana's father, Hector Cisneros, 20, watched in the courtroom with his wife, Angela, and other relatives. They wore T-shirts bearing Aiyana's photograph and the words, "In loving memory."

Cisneros also questioned whether Winkler was capable of killing their daughter, but he wants justice for Aiyana.

"It should be an eye for an eye," he said outside the courtroom. " I don't see how you can kill an innocent child."
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/index.ssf?/base/news-26/1133003813266870.xml&coll=6

Hector and Angie Cisneros found just how tough it is to get through Thanksgiving dinner when there's an empty place at the table.

"Everyday is hard, you know," Hector Cisneros said.

"But it was the first holiday so it hit us pretty hard," his wife Angie added, as they stood outside a Grand Rapids District Courtroom on Friday.
http://www.woodtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4165687&nav=0Rce

Samantha Pauline Winkler

Housed: Huron Valley Complex/Women's
Offense Date: 07/19/2005
Sentence Date: 11/27/2006

Offense: 2nd Degree Murder
Sentence: 13 years 4 months - 60 years

Earliest Release Date: 03/22/2019
Maximum Discharge Date: 11/22/2065

Thank you Belinda!

From September 2012:

http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/09/family_of_aiyana_cisneros.html

It was an emotional day for two families as Pedro Navarro was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of 2-year-old Aiyana Cisneros.

Navarro was sentenced by Judge James Robert Redford after a Kent County Circuit Court jury in August found Navarro guilty of the July 19, 2005 murder...

According to testimony from the week-long trial, Navarro took the girl into an upstairs bedroom. Winkler heard the child screaming and instead of checking on the toddler, she listened to her boyfriend, who told her not to involve police and emergency services.

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