Bianca Rivera Lima, (Hall County Department of Corrections, Courtesy)
GRAND ISLAND — A Grand Island woman who has been charged with fatal child abuse has waived her preliminary hearing in Hall County Court.
Bianca Rivera Lima, 27, has been charged with intentional child abuse – death, a Class 1B felony.
The Hall County Attorney’s Office amended the original charge of Child Abuse resulting in Serious Bodily Injury, to Child Abuse Resulting in Death.
Rivera Lima entered a written waiver of her preliminary hearing in Hall County Court and the case will now be bound over to Hall County District Court.
Arraignment in the case has been set for June 18 at 9 a.m.
According to court documents, around 4:34 p.m., officers with the Grand Island Police Department responded to a residence on E. 16th St. in reference to a medical emergency involving a child.
The first officers on scene advised that the child was not breathing when they arrived. The infant was flown to Children’s Nebraska, the pediatric hospital and medical center in Omaha.
Life support was removed from the child over the weekend and the child succumbed to injuries suffered in the original incident.
The investigation is still on going and results of the autopsy ordered by the Hall County Attorney, will not be available for several weeks, according to Captain Dean Elliot with the GIPD.
According to a GIPD probable cause statement, officers reported to 319 E. 16th St. regarding a 2-month-old child who was not breathing. Rivera Lima cared for the child in her daycare while the child’s parents were at work.
“The child was flown to Children’s Hospital in Omaha ‘where he had extreme bleeding around the brain and retinal hemorrhaging. The child has not displayed any movement or signs of life” since being transported to CHI/St. Francis.
The medical professionals in Omaha reported that the injuries were from severe shaking and/or a “slamming. They also said that the injuries were intentional. Rivera Lima was the only adult with the child during the time of the injury. She also delayed a call to 911 for an unknown reason.
Rivera Lima was born in Guatemala, the probable cause statement said.
