{"id":26919,"date":"2024-06-28T18:28:41","date_gmt":"2024-06-28T18:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/i-wasnt-a-monster-woman-shares-story-of-alleged-abuse-in-bloomfield\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:47:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:47:58","slug":"i-wasnt-a-monster-woman-shares-story-of-alleged-abuse-in-bloomfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/i-wasnt-a-monster-woman-shares-story-of-alleged-abuse-in-bloomfield\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I wasn\u2019t a monster\u2019: Woman shares story of alleged abuse in Bloomfield"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Joseph
Joseph Bresch, 38, faces child abuse charges for reportedly slitting his infant daughter's throat in 2021.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The man who reportedly slit his infant daughter\u2019s throat in a horrific case of child abuse in Bloomfield has been released from the San Juan County Detention Center and placed in a transitional living program in Albuquerque.<\/p>\n

Joseph Bresch, 38, is charged with two counts of first-degree child abuse resulting in great bodily injury and one count of false imprisonment and battery against a household member investigated by the Bloomfield Police Department in 2021.<\/p>\n

Special Prosecutor JoHanna Cox had filed a motion to keep Bresch in jail until his trial, which is set for Sept. 24 in Judge Curtis Gurley\u2019s courtroom in the 11th Judicial District in Aztec.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo conditions of release will reasonably protect the safety of another or the safety of the community,\u201d Cox wrote in her motion, stating that Bresch \u201chas demonstrated that he has a significant violent propensity towards innocent and defenseless civilians. He will not be able to safely reside in the community if he is not detained.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bresch\u2019s former wife and the mother of the child abuse victim stated she was at the hearing and told the court she \u201cwould prefer him stay locked up,\u201d Michelle Bresch said June 27 in a telephone interview with the Tri-City Record.<\/em><\/p>\n

Despite the motion and the request from Michelle Bresch, Gurley released Bresch to the Diersen Charities Residential Reentry Center in Albuquerque, where he will reside with a GPS ankle monitor and be under house arrest except for work hours, court records state.<\/p>\n

Bresch was ordered to complete a \u201ccommunity-based program which provides education and training in parenting,\u201d complete 40 hours of community service, participate in mental health screenings and \u201chave no contact with the alleged victims,\u201d according to court records.<\/p>\n

This provided Michelle Bresch with some protections, but she doesn\u2019t believe she or her 2-year-old daughter can be safe with him out of custody.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe instilled this fear into me,\u201d Michelle Bresch said of her tumultuous marriage. \u201cI had knives thrown at me, machetes thrown at me, guns pointed at my head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michelle Bresch\u2019s relationship with Bresch began when they were both 9 years old and living in Las Vegas, Nevada.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was my best friend,\u201d she said, adding that they lost touch with each other when she moved away at age 16.<\/p>\n

In 2017, when the mass shooting happened at the Mandalay Bay, they reconnected.<\/p>\n

Michelle Bresch learned that he had been in and out of jail since he was 16 and served a prison sentence for child abuse. However, she said she was \u201cintrigued\u201d and believed his claims of innocence.<\/p>\n

Their relationship rekindled, and he alienated her from family. He moved her to Farmington, where she didn\u2019t know anyone. She wasn\u2019t allowed to leave the house. She didn\u2019t have friends. She didn\u2019t have anyone, except Bresch and his friends.<\/p>\n

Michelle Bresch said she made straw purchases of firearms for him and was briefly incarcerated.<\/p>\n

She then made changes In her life, changes to protect her children: a 7-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl, who reportedly suffered severe abuse at the hands of Bresch, authorities said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have sole custody of my kids back,\u201d Michelle Bresch said, adding that she received the court documents June 27.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a long hard fight. \u2026 It took so much to prove that I wasn\u2019t the problem,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said abuse happened throughout the relationship. It included mental and physical abuse and sexual assault, and she blamed him for the death of her unborn child.<\/p>\n

The violent acts allegedly perpetrated by Bresch against both Michelle Bresch and his 2-month-old daughter were detailed in a nine-page affidavit for arrest warrant.<\/p>\n

The baby was born premature and spent two months in the hospital before being released from San Juan Regional Medical Center on Oct. 8, 2021.<\/p>\n

Michelle Bresch said she was afraid to take her home, and when the baby did go home, only two weeks passed before the infant was back at the hospital in critical condition, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n

Bloomfield Police discovered the abuse Oct. 24, 2021, when paramedics were called to the Bresch home in the 1100 block of Kathy Lynn. The medics called dispatch to report the child\u2019s injuries were \u201cconsistent with child abuse,\u201d the affidavit states.<\/p>\n

When the child arrived at San Juan Regional Medical Center, she was in critical condition.<\/p>\n

The \u201cvisible\u201d injuries on the infant included a \u201cbruise to the left eye, burst blood vessels in the left eye, malformation similar to cauliflower ear on the left ear, splitting skin and laceration to the back of the left ear, blood around the mouth and nose, swollen nose and eyes, bruise on the left scapula, broken ribs, severe diaper rash and most concerning was a laceration across the anterior neck near the base of the jaw,\u201d the affidavit states.<\/p>\n

Michelle Bresch said in the interview that the injuries to the infant\u2019s face were from \u201chim rubbing his goatee on her.\u201d<\/p>\n

There also was a 5-day-old slit to the baby\u2019s throat, reportedly made with a razor blade that Bresch kept in his pocket. The cut was so deep \u201cthe underlying tissue and structures of the neck\u201d were visible. It \u201cexposed tissue of the esophagus and needed advanced treatment that only a hospital could provide,\u201d according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n

At the time the abuse was reported, Michelle did not tell police or hospital staff what was happening. She claimed Bresch \u201cwas always on the phone,\u201d telling her what to say.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything I said in those police reports were all stories I was told to tell,\u201d she said. \u201cThe hardest battle I\u2019ve had my whole life is to prove that I wasn\u2019t a monster.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michelle Bresch said she tried to protect the infant by keeping her by her side, but when she would shower or sleep, she alleges Bresch would take the baby and harm her. \u201cI wanted my babies to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would hover. He didn\u2019t like it when I hovered,\u201d Michelle Bresch said. \u201cWhen I asked for her, he would throw her to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said there were numerous calls to Bloomfield Police, and she made several attempts to leave, and the abuse toward her would just \u201cget worse and worse and worse,\u201d every time she said something.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody listens, and they always want to blame the victim,\u201d Michell Bresch said, adding she is now trying to piece her life back together.<\/p>\n

She is in a new town with a new life and will continue to fight for her children.<\/p>\n

She tells victims of abuse, \u201cYou have got to tell somebody. \u2026 There\u2019s a way out and don\u2019t back down.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Man faces charges after infant is found with severe injury<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26920,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26919"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79518,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26919\/revisions\/79518"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26919"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}