Lacerations on the boy’s head needed 15 staples and four stitches, law enforcement officials say.
(Rick Egan | Salt Lake Tribune file photo) The Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office filed an aggravated attempted murder charge on May 8, 2025, against a West Valley City woman, accused of hitting and trying to drown a 7-year-old boy.
A woman has been charged with trying to kill her 7-year-old son, after police reported the boy was found going door to door for help in West Valley City, with blood on his face and soaked with water.
In a news release, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s office said the woman, Petrice Shirley Mary Garcia, at one point told a neighbor “Call the cops, I tried killing my son.”
Garcia is facing one count of aggravated attempted murder, one count of disarming a police officer — both first-degree felonies — three counts of aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony, and one count of criminal trespass, a class A misdemeanor.
Garcia is being held in the Salt Lake County jail. Prosecutors have asked that she not be released on bail.
According to court documents, Garcia shoved the child into a tub after unsuccessfully trying to kick him out of the house. There, prosecutors say she tried to drown him in cold water before picking him up and trying to choke him. She then hit him several times over the head with a statue, the documents say.
The boy managed to run and hide under a bed before eventually trying to escape out the front door, the documents say. Garcia blocked the front door, prosecutors say, and the boy got out through the back of the house.
When police investigated the home, they found a tub full of water and a broken statue weighing between 3 and 5 pounds, the release from the D.A.’s office says.
Court documents say Garcia left the house to look for her son, went back into the house, then came out again naked. A neighbor told police he saw Garcia running down the street, and came toward him. According to the release, Garcia assaulted the neighbor, who then tackled her and waited for police to arrive.
The D.A.’s office said the boy suffered a mild traumatic brain injury, and multiple scalp lacerations that took 15 staples to close — as well as a forehead laceration that required four stitches.
According to the D.A. office’s release, Garcia was taken to a different hospital than her son. Once there, she reportedly hit a nurse and pulled her hair. When a police officer tried to restrain Garcia, the release says, she touched the grip of his pistol and said, “You’re going to have to kill me.”