According to police, an investigation was launched after the 8-year-old girl's grandmother approached a security officer and told them that her granddaughter had been abused by her parents.
The abuse started when the little girl was caught chasing her little brother around the house. When the little boy fell and cut his lip, Melendez-Baez and Espiru teamed up to deliver her punishment.
Investigators say Espiru held her daughter down while Melendez-Baez heated up a spoon and burned the girl with it. The couple then switched places, allowing Espiru an opportunity to burn her daughter with the spoon. The child sustained burns to her hand and hip from the assault.
After being burned, the couple locked the girl in a backyard shed, where she was forced to sleep for the night.
Detectives later learned that the little girl had been burned on other occasions as well.
Melendez-Baez and Espiru were booked into the Fourth Avenue Jail and charged with four counts of child abuse, kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment.
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