SILVER CITY, N.M. (KRQE) – The parents of the 5-year-old girl found dead in Silver City this March are now facing felony charges. Music Adame, 34, and 38-year-old Matthew Bynum have each been accused of multiple child abuse charges for the death of their child, Xaqueline Bynum.
On Sunday, March 10, just after 11 a.m., the Grant County Sheriff’s Department responded to reports of a non-responsive child at a property on Quail Run Road in Silver City. Lapel videos from the Grant County Sheriff’s Department show deputies arriving on the scene and running to a tiny home on the back of the property.
Deputy: What’s going on?
Caller: Some of those people in the home right here aren’t responding.
Deputy: They’re not responding?
When deputies arrived at the tiny home, they found two minimally responsive adults and a responsive 7-year-old boy, but the non-responsive child the caller had reported was nowhere to be seen.
Deputy: Who’s not responsive?
Bynum: Not responsive?
Caller: The girl in the middle.
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Videos also show the moment deputies realized where the 5-year-old girl was – underneath the sleeping parents in a room filled with clutter. When deputies saw the pale 5-year-old girl, Xaqueline, they ordered the parents to get up, but they were out of it, and their response was slow.
Deputy: Did ya’ll smoke dope? Fentanyl? What is it?
Adame: No. It’s not fentanyl.
Once deputies finally reached the child, they carried her out of the house, performed chest compressions, and administered Narcan, but she could not be revived. The 7-year-old boy was also carried out of the house, complaining of leg pain.
Neither Bynum nor Adame offered any help. The pair learned of their daughter’s death later at the sheriff’s office. Adame admitted that she had smoked weed and methamphetamine, but not since noon the day before – the day they celebrated Xaqueline’s fifth birthday at the park.
Adame: I’ve done a lot of drugs in my life, and I’ve never felt like I did last night.
Adame said the kids woke up in the middle of the night.
Adame: They weren’t responding. If you asked them a question, there was no yes or no, there was just crying.
According to the criminal complaint, the primary cause of Xaqueline’s death was carbon monoxide poisoning. Court documents and interviews with the parents revealed that the tiny home was without running water and a stable source of heat, so the parents would burn coals in the home to keep it warm – a method that got them in trouble in the past when the boy got sick. According to court documents, the parents had been instructed to open the windows when burning coals; however, the investigation revealed that on the night of March 9, the only ventilation in the tiny home was a small gap in one window, allowing a cord to run outside.
The complaint states that the 7-year-old boy was checked into the hospital overnight on March 10 due to dehydration and pneumonia, referring to a “lack of overall parental care.” The complaint adds that the children were “left to habitate in an extremely filthy tiny home which was unsafe for human occupancy.” Additionally, a hair follicle test showed that the 7-year-old had been exposed to methamphetamine.
Adame: They are the best thing that ever happened to me. And I’m not the best thing to ever happen to them.
The 7-year-old boy was taken into the custody of CYFD, which had received callouts to the property in response to the concerning state of the children prior to this incident. According to CYFD documents provided by the sheriff’s department, the majority of callouts resulted in failure to make contact with the parents or a lack of responsiveness from the parents.
In August 2023, during a traffic stop, police reported to CYFD that the children were extremely dirty and had not showered in a while, noting that the kids were not in car seats. In November 2023, another report was filed because the property did not have a working toilet or running water and because the kids were constantly truant from school.
In January, a school employee reported to CYFD that they had physical and emotional abuse concerns for the 7-year-old. The parents admitted to drug use and domestic abuse; concerns were raised about where they were living. In March, the Grant County Sheriff’s Office issued a temporary custody order because they felt the children were in danger. It is not known if that was granted. On Thursday night, CYFD said, “This is an ongoing investigation, and CYFD is cooperating with law enforcement.”
The arrest warrant affidavit states the following:
After review of these files, it appears that Matthew Bynum and Music Adame have had an extensive period of time in which there has been great concerns regarding the inadequacy of care to their children, which eventually led to the death of one child and the hospitalization of the other. There has been, for the most part, a lack of cooperation with CYFD and the resources that CYFD could have been provided to them to mitigate their familial circumstances and conditions at the times of attempted interventions. Now, Matthew Bynum and Music Adame are in cooperation with CYFD and their efforts only after losing the custody of their remaining child and the death of another.”
Adame is facing the first-degree felony of intentional abuse of a child resulting in death, the second-degree felony of subsequent abuse of a child, and the third-degree felony of child abuse. Bynum is facing the first-degree felony of intentional abuse of a child resulting in death and the second-degree felony of subsequent abuse of a child.
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