Bluffdale parents Nicholas Romero and Christina Patton arrested after second infant death

A Bluffdale couple has been arrested on suspicion of child abuse homicide after their three-month-old baby boy died while sleeping in their bed.

It is the second time an infant has died in the couple's care under similar circumstances, according to police.

Nicholas Patrick Romero, 40, and Christina Joy Patton, 39, were booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Wednesday. Both are being held without bail as police investigate the overnight death at their home on West Napa Avenue.

What happened inside the home

Emergency services were called to the house just after 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday. Inside, officers found a three-month-old boy who was not breathing. Although emergency responders tried to save him, the infant was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to a police booking affidavit, officers performing CPR noticed "pink-coloured fluid or matter" coming from the baby's nose and mouth.

In the bedroom, police found multiple empty alcohol containers on and around the bedside table next to where the baby had been sleeping. Both parents admitted they had been drinking alcohol the night before, and Patton said she had also taken prescription medication.

A breath test taken by Patton roughly 12 hours after her last drink showed a blood-alcohol level of 0.011 per cent. Romero refused to take a breath test, police said.

The sleeping arrangements

The parents told investigators they had deliberately chosen to "co-sleep" with the baby in their adult bed rather than placing him in his own cot.

Romero told police that shortly before midnight, he made a bottle of formula, swaddled the baby, and placed him in a "Boppy-type" nursing pillow in the middle of the bed between himself and Patton. He propped the bottle up for the baby to feed.

Patton told detectives that the baby began crying around 1:30 a.m. She took him out of the swaddle, laid him on her chest to soothe him, and then moved him to her right arm. Both of them fell asleep in that position.

Romero woke up at 5:15 a.m. to find the baby pale, cold, and unresponsive. He began CPR and called 911.

A history of unsafe sleeping

As detectives investigated the death, they discovered a nearly identical tragedy had occurred in the same household just months earlier.

In October 2024, a baby girl died in the couple's care under similar circumstances, police said.

Because of that prior death, investigators wrote in the affidavit that the couple were fully aware of the lethal risks of unsafe sleeping practices. By choosing to sleep in the same bed with the baby after drinking, police said, the parents acted with "criminal negligence" and showed a reckless disregard for their child's life.