Police charge foster mother with abusing 2-year-old to death

Dunia Soledad-Moreno in jail after Keyana Bravo-Hamilton’s death

By Mara Stine

The Gresham Outlook, Sep 13, 2006, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Dunia Soledad-Moreno

contributed photo / The Outlook

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A foster mother is behind bars accused of abusing a 2-year-old girl to death.

Gresham police arrested Dunia Soledad-Moreno, 29, on charges of murder by abuse at 4:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, said Sgt. Teddi Anderson, police spokeswoman. At 11:14 p.m., Soledad-Moreno was booked into the Justice Center Jail, where she is being held without bail on the Measure 11 offense.

Soledad-Moreno and her husband, Armando Moreno-Garcia, 38, brought their 2-year-old foster daughter Keyana Bravo-Hamilton to Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center on Monday, Sept. 4. The toddler died of internal injuries and hospital officials reported the suspicious death to police who investigated the case as a homicide.

During her first court hearing on Monday, Sept. 11, Soledad-Moreno briefly appeared with her court-appointed attorney, Angel Lopez, and waived her right to a probable cause hearing before Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge David Gernant. She did not enter a plea.

Soledad-Moreno’s husband and three other family members sat in the courtroom offering silent support.

Lopez said a grand jury would decide this week whether to indict Soledad-Moreno, adding that if it does, his client will enter a not guilty plea.

Although few details of the murder are available, Soledad-Moreno allegedly engaged in a “pattern and practice of assault” against her foster daughter between June 16 and Sept. 4, according to court documents.

Soledad-Moreno “unlawfully and recklessly, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, caused the death of Keyana Bravo-Hamilton, a dependent person,” according to the document.

State child welfare officials have removed the victim’s 3-year-old half sister, as well as the couple’s two biological children, from their home, located in a yellow duplex at 245 S.E. Vista Avenue.

Detectives from the multi-agency Child Abuse Team and Major Crimes Team are still investigating, as is the Department of Human Services, which oversees the Children, Adults and Families Division responsible for administering child protective services and foster care.

Anyone with information about the investigation is encouraged to call the Gresham police tip line at 503-618-2719 or 1-888-989-3505.