Angry Father Allegedly Beats 5-Year-Old to Death for Not Wanting to Do Homework

Stock photo of police tape marking a crime scene. Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

A 5-year-old was allegedly beaten to death by her New Mexico father on April 5 for refusing to do homework, according to the Albuquerque Police.

Sarah Dubois-Gilbeau, who was beaten with a water shoe, had moved from to Albuquerque from California five years ago to live with her 37-year-old father, Brandon Reynolds.

The Albuquerque Fire Rescue paramedics were called to an apartment on the 1400 block of Amherst, near Gibson and Carlisle about 1 a.m. on Friday, regarding a child possibly in cardiac arrest.

Reynolds told paramedics that Sarah was suffering from heart problems.

The paramedics administered treatment to Sarah and called the police. They then transported her to the University of New Mexico Hospital where she died.

There were many inconsistencies in what Reynold told police and they could see that the child was brutally beaten up.

“The injuries were not consistent with what they were told,” said Officer Simon Drobik of the Albuquerque Police Department, according to My Sun Coast.

“It appears that this father brutally beat this child,” said Drobik.

There were multiple bruises on the child including on her back and on the left side of her body. The bruising pattern on her right abdomen matched that of a shoe, reported NBC.

Neighbors told police that Reynold was a strict dad but they never saw him spanking her in public.

Initially, the father told police that the child stopped breathing just before she went to bed. However, neighbors told law enforcement that the father was allegedly overheard saying “get up!” This commotion was followed by the sound of something being stuck.

“She heard him yelling at her, then she came outside to take a breath and then that’s when she saw the ambulance,” a neighbor told ABC.

In an interview later, Reynolds told police that he got “triggered” after Sarah said she didn’t want to do homework and “that’s when the discipline set in.”

The father also told police that he later realized Sarah was lethargic and took her to the living room to ice her wounds, according to NBC.

“The spanking got so bad she wasn’t mobile,” Reynolds told police. He then realized that he had beaten her on the back, legs, arms, and chest. After putting her to bed, he saw that she was not breathing well and that her heartbeat was faint.

Reynolds, who has no criminal record in New Mexico, then brought her to the living room and tried to give her first aid and called for help.

Mourning Community

Neighbors mourned Sarah’s death. “She was so cute. She was a little angel,” one neighbor told KOAT.

“She didn’t deserve this,” said the neighbor who used to babysit Sarah. The neighbor said that they used to paint each other’s nails and do each other’s hair.