Zuni woman pleads guilty in baby’s death, faces up to 8 years
Miranda Cachini pleaded guilty after her 2-month-old daughter died in Zuni Pueblo. She faces up to eight years in federal prison.
A Zuni woman has admitted in federal court that her 2-month-old daughter died after a night of asphyxiation in Zuni Pueblo, a case that now moves to sentencing and carries a prison term of up to eight years.
Miranda Cachini, 27, an enrolled member of the Zuni Pueblo, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Court records and federal prosecutors said the death happened on the night of January 25, 2025, after Cachini consumed alcoholic beverages, fell asleep while breastfeeding the baby in bed and later rolled over on top of the child during the night.
The death of an infant in a home setting has left the case rooted in both criminal court and child-safety concerns. In McKinley County, where Zuni Pueblo and Gallup are closely tied through schools, family networks and tribal services, such cases can have consequences that reach far beyond the courtroom. Federal prosecutors said the plea now puts sentencing at the center of the case.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico said the FBI’s Gallup Resident Agency investigated the case with assistance from the Zuni Pueblo Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Mondragon is prosecuting.
The broader public-health picture shows how often sleep-related dangers can turn deadly for infants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were about 3,700 sudden unexpected infant deaths in the United States in 2022. New Mexico’s Department of Health has said the state averaged 20 sleep-related infant deaths per year from 2018 through 2022.
Safe sleep guidance from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development warns that if a caregiver falls asleep while feeding a baby in bed, the child should be moved to a separate sleep area made for babies as soon as the caregiver wakes up. The guidance also says couches and armchairs are especially dangerous because of entrapment and suffocation risk.
The case also sits against a wider child-welfare backdrop in New Mexico. Federal child welfare data show the state had 6,293 child maltreatment victims in 2024, underscoring the scale of the problem even as this remains a specific criminal case tied to one family and one tragic night in Zuni Pueblo.
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