Gloria Hughes: NC woman who was arrested after viciously beating her 3-year-old son to death faces murder charges

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND: A North Carolina woman who was reportedly seen violently beating her toddler son to death on the sidewalk behind a self-storage business in Maryland, has been apprehended and faces charges with first-degree murder and felony child abuse resulting in death, as per court documents. 

On Sunday, December 3, Gloria Elena Hughes, 37, was spotted by police around 5.30 am as she wandered the street in the small Bel Air, Maryland, town while carrying her lifeless three-year-old son in her arms, according to a statement from the Bel Air Police Department posted to Facebook. 

Police were already being dispatched for a call about Gloria Hughes 

Police were already being dispatched for a call made about “cardiac arrest involving a child” near the self-storage company when Hughes was first seen by an off-duty Harford County sheriff’s deputy. The victim, Jason Garcia, could not be revived despite immediate assistance from local emergency services called in once Hughes was found.

He was transported to the University of Maryland Upper Chesapeake Medical Center by Harford County EMS and pronounced deceased at approximately 6 am. 

Gloria Hughes bashed her son Jason Garcia's head into the ground multiple times 

According to the police, the child was seen on surveillance footage from the self-storage company being badly beaten by Hughes. She allegedly bashed the boy’s head into the ground multiple times and police say footage also showed her roughly handling the child’s legs and slamming his whole body into the pavement.

“If there’s evil — that’s evil. It’s pure evil. It hurts all of us,” Bel Air Police Department Chief Charles Moore told local reporters on Monday, December 4.

Police said investigators learned Hughes had allegedly brushed off a stranger’s attempt to intervene 24 hours before the child died. A Bel Air resident reportedly saw her in a car with the toddler crying. Hughes allegedly told the person to leave her alone and then she drove off in her car.

Gloria Hughes was involved in a 'custody battle' with the child's father 

Police learned Hughes had come to the region from Morganton, North Carolina, amid a “custody battle” with the young boy’s father, Baltimore ABC affiliate WMAR reported. Following her arrest, police said they learned that Garcia’s father had previously contacted authorities to alert them that Hughes could be leaving North Carolina and headed for Maryland.

Police also disclosed that Hughes took the child to a local emergency room on Saturday, December 2, where he was treated for ingesting a boric acid suppository, typically an over-the-counter used to treat yeast infections.

Gloria Hughes was denied bond

According to the court records, the ,bond was denied for Hughes by Judge Kerwin Miller when she appeared at the district court in Harford on Monday. She is being detained at the Harford County Detention Center and, in the meantime, Miller ordered she be evaluated for competency to stand trial.