SNOHOMISH — Prosecutors in Snohomish County charged 27-year-old Samuel Adonis Cardoza-Menjivar with second-degree murder and second-degree assault of a child in connection with the December 2025 death of a nearly three-year-old girl and injuries to her older brother, according to court documents filed Wednesday.
Cardoza-Menjivar, also referred to in records by his middle name Adonis, faces one count of second-degree murder with an aggravating factor of victim vulnerability and one count of second-degree assault of a child. The charges stem from events on or about December 1, 2025, at a residence in Snohomish County, according to the charging information and an accompanying affidavit of probable cause filed by the Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
The murder charge alleges that Cardoza committed or attempted to commit assault of a child in the first degree and, during and in furtherance of that crime or in immediate flight from it, caused the death of his girlfriend’s three-year-old daughter.
The death occurred on or about December 7, 2025. Prosecutors allege the crime was aggravated because the defendant knew or should have known the victim was particularly vulnerable and incapable of resistance. The assault charge also alleges that Cardoza committed second-degree assault by strangulation and suffocation against his girlfriend’s six-year-old son.
Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Cardoza on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, and booked him into the Snohomish County Jail. Prosecutors requested $1 million bail, citing a substantial risk of committing a violent offense, concerns about future appearance, and potential flight risk.
Proposed conditions included no contact with the deceased child’s brother or state witnesses, no possession of firearms or dangerous weapons, no unsupervised contact with children under 18, and no overnight stays in residences with children under 18.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, submitted by Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jared A. Goodkin and based on police reports, witness statements and other materials from the Snohomish Police Department and assisting agencies, the case began the morning of December 1, 2025.
At approximately 8:08 a.m., Cardoza called his girlfriend Maryah Morales, the children’s mother and his fiancée at the time, while she was at work at a Fred Meyer store. He reported that her daughter had fainted. Morales called 911 at 8:17 a.m. Cardoza called 911 moments later, at 8:17 a.m., stating his fiancée’s daughter had fainted and was not responding.
When fire department and law enforcement personnel arrived at the residence, Cardoza reported that the girl had fallen while in the shower with her brother but that he did not know how long she had been down because he had stepped out of the room.
The girl’s brother initially told a deputy that his sister had fallen in the shower; body-worn camera footage indicated the boy was standing next to Cardoza-Menjivar and heard the adult’s account before repeating it. Using a language-line interpreter, Cardoza later told deputies that the three-year-old was in the bathtub with her brother and fell when she tried to step out. A deputy observed approximately a foot of standing water in the bathtub.
Firefighters found the girl unconscious and pulseless. She was fully clothed and her hair was dry. They began CPR on scene and continued it during transport to Providence Medical Center in Everett. Doctors there identified subdural hematomas and diffused bilateral pulmonary infiltrates before being transferred to Seattle Children’s Hospital, where she was diagnosed with significant anoxic brain injury and subdural hemorrhages.
Dr. William Porter, a general pediatrician with the hospital’s Safe Child and Adolescent Network (SCAN) team, noted that the presentation with cardiac arrest and significant brain injury was unexpected based on the reported history of an accidental fall in the shower, and that bruising raised concerns for non-accidental trauma. He recommended evaluation for additional injuries.
A Child Protective Services (CPS) social worker interviewed the suspect’s brother and reported to deputies that the boy had a rash and scratches on the inside of his arm. When asked if Cardoza had ever hurt him or his daughter, he said yes.
The boy indicated the injuries to his sister involved her knees, stomach, head and essentially all over her body, though he did not provide a timeframe. He also said his sister did not fall in the bathroom but “in a room with an orange floor,” which the social worker believed was the bedroom adjacent to the bathroom. The boy stated he was in the bathroom while his sister was in the bedroom with Cardoza, and that “Sister broke her bones and broke her heart.”
On Dec. 2, 2025, physicians observed additional findings on the girl, including bruising and possible abrasion to the anterior chest, periorbital bruising around the left eye, a subconjunctival hemorrhage and bruising along the left jaw line. Dr. Porter reiterated concerns for non-accidental trauma. Brain-death testing that day showed some residual respiratory effort.
The same day, doctors evaluated the boy at Seattle Children’s Hospital because of visible injuries. Dr. Susan Mazor observed patterned bruising on his neck, bruising near both elbows and healing linear marks on his mid-back. Dr. Rebecca Wiester, a child-abuse expert with the SCAN team, described the neck marks as “worrisome for finger marks” and “highly consistent with trauma from strangulation and … inconsistent with accidental injuries from childhood play or activities.” She noted left-arm marks concerning for grip marks. Records indicated the boy told his father that “Adonis attack today” and demonstrated by placing his hand on his neck where scratch marks were visible.
The children’s father, Miguel Cevallos-Sanchez, later told Detective Karen Elizondo that while at Providence Hospital, his son said Cardoza “did it.” After leaving the hospital, the boy spoke further in the truck; Cevallos-Sanchez recorded parts of the conversation. The boy described Cardoza hurting his sister and grabbing him in various ways, including by the neck. Cevallos-Sanchez observed neck marks on the boy at the hospital. The following day, the boy demonstrated Cardoza grabbing his groin area and pulling him.
On Dec. 3, 2025, an ophthalmology evaluation of the girl noted periorbital ecchymosis and subconjunctival hemorrhage in the left eye, a large subhyaloid hemorrhage in the right eye, and numerous scattered intraretinal hemorrhages in both eyes. Dr. Porter stated the presence of retinal hemorrhages, combined with severe brain injury and facial bruising, further contributed to concern for abusive head trauma.
On Dec. 4, 2025, additional brain-death testing showed absence of brain and brainstem function. The three-year-old girl remained on mechanical ventilation until 3:10 p.m. on Dec. 7, 2025, when doctors compassionately extubated her with Morales and Cevallos-Sanchez at the bedside. She was pronounced dead at 3:24 p.m.
That same day, Child Interview Specialist Nanci Bidondo conducted a recorded forensic interview with her brother. The boy initially said his sister fell on the ground, broke her bones and fell in the water. He demonstrated stiffening of his arms and legs and said “she broke,” then “a broken bone and Adonis and attack” and “A fight and hurt.” He described a fight on the ground involving “Adonis boy. His hair black, has a mustache, and his eyes are black.”
The child demonstrated grabbing of wrists and legs, said Adonis was fighting with his sister and pushed her, and showed motions of slamming a head down. He stated Adonis attacked her, hit her, “broke her”, and that she could not take a breath. He demonstrated placing both hands around his neck in a choking manner and said it happened “In Adonis room.” He further described Adonis grabbing the girl on the ground so she could not breathe, and that “they can’t fix her.” Regarding a red mark on his own neck, the boy said “Adonis … he grabbed my neck” and that “It felt like hurt.” He stated, “He killed my sister,” using “destroy” as another word for kill in Spanish. He located the fight in the “orange room,” which he identified as his mother’s, and said he had been in the restroom in the water and then changed himself.
Detectives Amanda Gonzalez and Sidney Holt interviewed Cardoza on December 4, 2025, at the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office South Precinct, with a deputy providing Spanish-English translation. He was told he was free to leave and that the door was unlocked. Cardoza said he had both children that day and planned to drop the three-year-old at school. He stated he put both in the bath, left briefly, returned to soap them, rinsed them, told them to get out and went to get clothes. He claimed he heard a loud bang from the bedroom, returned to the bathroom and found the girl lying on the floor with hands behind her head and head tilted down. He said she was crying, he picked her up, put her on the bed, tried to talk to her without response, called Morales and then 911.
Cardoza described moving the girl to the sofa, then the floor, checking for breathing and attempting CPR after having taken a course. 911 records indicated telecommunicator CPR was not performed until firefighters arrived on scene. When asked for clarification, Cardoza gave inconsistent accounts about whether the girl was inside or outside the bathtub and about clothing.
Cardoza’s fiancé, Morales, was interviewed the same day in Gold Bar. She described meeting Cardoza after ending a five-year relationship with Cevallos-Sanchez, moving in with him about a year and a half earlier, and the shared custody arrangements.
Morales said her daughter had been with her from around Thanksgiving 2025 through December 1. The child had been unwell with fever and vomiting in the preceding days and had sustained a bruise under the left eye that she attributed to a fight with the six-year-old boy over a toy.
According to her interview, Morales left for work between 4 and 4:20 a.m. on December 1, leaving the children with Cardoza. After receiving his call about fainting, she left work without clocking out, repeatedly urged him to call 911 and ultimately called herself. Upon returning home, she questioned how the girl could have gotten out of the bathtub unaided, stating the child never did so. Morales said she and Cevallos-Sanchez argued with Cardoza at the hospital and that she later blocked his number after one phone call, though phone records later showed additional contacts.
Phone extraction from Morales’ device, limited by her consent, showed calls beginning early on December 1, including a 28-minute call between Morales and Cardoza at 6:17 a.m., subsequent calls around the time of the emergency, and further contact later that day despite her earlier statement. Text messages also occurred after the 911 calls.
Ring camera video from the residence, obtained with Morales’ consent, captured relevant activity. At about 4:48 a.m., Morales and Cardoza- transferred car seats to his truck. At 7:46 a.m., Cardoza exited, started his truck while appearing calm and relaxed, and returned inside. At 8:16 a.m., he frantically exited carrying a limp, non-responsive three-year-old girl, attempted to place her in a rear car seat (her head fell back), then pulled her out and ran back inside with her feet and legs dangling. Fire personnel arrived around 8:22 a.m.
Snohomish County Medical Examiner Dr. J. Daniel Augustine conducted an autopsy on the girl on December 9, 2025, and issued a report on March 11, 2026. He noted the girl’s history of alopecia, skin rashes, easy bruising, recent vomiting and fever treated at home, a forehead bruise weeks earlier and the left-eye bruise. External findings included small areas of head contusion/ecchymosis. Internal examination revealed bilateral holohemispheric subdural hematoma, retinal hemorrhages, small scalp hemorrhages and small chest soft-tissue hemorrhages. There was acute lower-lobe pneumonia and centrilobular liver necrosis secondary to the blunt head trauma; the girl also tested positive for norovirus.
Dr. Augustine concluded the cause of death was blunt head trauma. Factors concerning for non-accidental trauma included inconsistency with the reported ground-level bathroom fall, the non-biological male caregiver and possible delay in seeking medical care (evidenced by the history and the child being fully clothed with dry hair upon EMS arrival). The manner of death was certified as homicide.
The affidavit references Cardoza’s criminal history. He pleaded guilty on April 23, 2026, to Assault 4 (domestic violence) in Snohomish County Superior Court, stemming from a September 8, 2025, disturbance at Morales’ residence. Deputies responded to what became a domestic-violence-with-weapon call. Morales’ brother, Victor Ojeda, reported that Cardoza pushed Morales, attempted to kick Ojeda, fought him and then struck him on the upper left arm with a butter knife, causing a laceration. Ojeda said he feared for his life.
Additional incidents include a 2023 Lynnwood domestic-violence response involving a prior partner, Maria Ajcot Ventura, and their infant; a 2022 incident involving Cardoza and Ventura in which a male employee reported being grabbed by the neck and struck; and a 2025 petition for protection order by Ventura alleging threats, physical abuse, property damage and other conduct. No adult felonies or juvenile adjudications appear in the prosecutor’s understanding of the criminal history attached to the affidavit.
Cardoza has no known current address or phone number according to recent investigative efforts, and his mother lives in Mexico.
Cardoza is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. The case remains pending.
If you, or anyone you know, is experiencing domestic violence contact Domestic Violence Services of Snohomish County by calling: 425-252-2873
