PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A 10-year-old Arizona girl reported abuse in her home nine months before prosecutors say her father and stepmother tortured her to death, according to a newly released police report.
Rebekah Baptiste was interviewed by police and examined by medical staff at Phoenix Children’s Hospital in October 2024 after running away from home. The hospital notified the Arizona Department of Child Safety following the examination.
Baptiste was found badly bruised in July 2025 and later died from injuries consistent with torture, according to prosecutors, sparking an outcry from advocates and lawmakers about the efficacy of Arizona’s child welfare system.
The October report to the Department of Child Safety was one of at least 12 reports over the years raising concerns about Baptiste’s safety.
The newly released police report was compiled after Baptiste, then 9, ran away to a gas station seeking help.
“[Rebekah] jumped from a two-story window in an apartment complex. She ran to at least one homeless person asking for help and then ran to the QT. She told the manager that she was being abused by her stepmother,” Kole Soderquist of the Apache County Sheriff’s Office said during a court hearing in September.
Baptiste showed officers bruising on her hands and feet, a bloody lip and marks on her fingers. She said her parents hit her with brushes and belts and forced her to do rigorous exercise as discipline. She said she didn’t feel safe at home.
Police interviewed the parents, who claimed Baptiste was harming herself and denied abusing her. Police determined the case did not merit criminal prosecution due to conflicting accounts and a lack of witnesses.
Months later, prosecutors would collect evidence convincing them that Rebekah was right all along, but only after first responders found her unconscious and fatally injured.
Richard Baptiste and Anicia Woods are accused of first-degree murder and child abuse.
In December, DCS completed a months-long review of the case and is preparing a final report. At the state capitol, lawmakers have assembled a bipartisan Child Abuse Task Force and are working on reforms in the 2026 session.
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