DETAILS EMERGE IN DEATH OF TWO PACOIMA SIBLINGS.

Byline: Alex Roth Daily News Staff Writer

In the months before her violent death, 18-month-old Guadalupe Barragon suffered such horrific abuse that her arm, legs and collarbone were all broken, a medical examiner testified Tuesday.

Prosecutors say her short life ended last September when her father beat her one time too many. And in May, sheriff's deputies found the child buried in a shallow grave in the Angeles National Forest, a crucifix resting on her chest.

It wasn't far from where her 5-year-old brother's body was discovered two months earlier. He, too, was buried with a crucifix.

New details of the child's death emerged Tuesday during a preliminary hearing for her father, mother and aunt. The father, Marco Esquivel Barragon, 35, is accused of killing Guadalupe and her 5-year-old brother and trying to conceal the crime by burying the bodies.

Their mother, Petra Barrera, 35, and aunt, Juana Barrera, 28, face charges of child endangerment and being accessories to murder.

The three were arrested in March when authorities found the father, aunt and three siblings burying the body of Guadalupe's brother Ernesto in the forest near Lopez Canyon Road.

Authorities didn't discover the Guadalupe's body until May, when Ernesto's twin brothers told authorities their sister had been beaten to death months earlier and buried in a nearby spot, said Sheriff's detective Christine Carns.

The twins led authorities to the grave, where they found the girl's buried body wrapped in a blanket and plastic trash bag, Carns said.

The girl's body showed deterioration consistent with someone pouring sulfuric acid on her, Senior Deputy Medical Examiner James Ribe testified. Deputy District Attorney David Mintz said after the hearing that Barragon had poured acid on her after her death ``so if the girl were discovered, her identity would remain unknown.''

Ribe ruled the cause of death as ``blunt-force trauma'' to the head. One of the twins testified Monday that the girl died after Barragon had hurled her against a wall because she wet the bed.

She also had at least four broken bones, Ribe said. The fractures were partially healed, indicating she'd suffered the injuries weeks or months before she died, he testified.

Also, the child was unusually small for her age, suggesting malnutrition, Ribe said.

Lawyers for the two women contend they lived in fear of Barragon and were also beaten by him.

Van Nuys Municipal Court Judge Lloyd M. Nash is scheduled to hear more testimony today before deciding whether there is enough evidence to try the parents on charges stemming from the deaths.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

PHOTO Petra Barrera, left, and Marco Esquivel Barragon sit at their preliminary hearing in Van Nuys.

Evan Yee/Daily News