Police records show black eye on Rebekah Baptiste before death

Phoenix police records show officers saw a black eye on 10-year-old Rebekah Baptiste months before she died in rural Apache County, adding another documented warning sign to a case that already includes school reports, earlier police contact and a long history of child-safety involvement.

The earlier police encounter came on Oct. 17, 2024, when Rebekah ran to a Phoenix gas station and told a store manager that her stepmother was abusing her. Police later recorded her saying Anicia Woods made her run laps and hit her with a brush. Officers observed faint bruising and marks on both of Rebekah’s hands, and the report says she told them, “It has happened a lot.” That incident was later closed for insufficient evidence.

The new police records matter because they show the concerns were not limited to the final days of her life. Empower College Prep staff said they filed a dozen abuse reports to the Arizona Department of Child Safety on Rebekah’s behalf, and school leaders said the scratches, bruising, black eye, missing toenails and burns documented after her death matched the warnings educators had already raised. DCS disputed the school’s count and said only some reports met statutory criteria.

DCS records also show that Rebekah’s case was not an isolated family contact. The agency says it has reports involving Rebekah and her parents dating back to Aug. 29, 2015, including allegations of neglect, possible drug use, a severe diaper rash and an untreated ear infection, a 2017 allegation that a 10-month-old child was left alone for hours, and a 2019 neglect allegation. Those earlier cases were unsubstantiated. DCS also said the family was already the subject of an open report dated May 19, 2025, and investigators were unable to locate them before the July emergency.

The fatal sequence unfolded in Apache County. DCS says it received a report on July 27, 2025, after Rebekah was found unresponsive near a wash and brought to the hospital by medical services. She died on July 30, 2025. On Aug. 8, 2025, DCS determined her death was the result of abuse or neglect and said multiple injuries indicated non-accidental trauma. The agency identified the residence as Concho, Arizona. Richard Baptiste and Anicia Woods were charged on July 29, 2025, in Apache County Superior Court with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault, child abuse and kidnapping.

For Apache County families, the case shows how the child-protection system is supposed to work and where it can fail. School staff, police officers, hospitals and DCS all documented pieces of the same pattern, yet the records show repeated gaps between warning signs and effective intervention.