County attorney declines to prosecute Gilbert mother over child’s death

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) has decided not to prosecute a Gilbert mother and another person over her child’s 2023 death, which the county medical examiner found was the result of natural causes.

Twenty-two-month-old Heston Bartlett died on July 21, 2023. His mother, Cheyenne Benthin, and another person were investigated by Gilbert Police concerning Heston’s death.

The department said on July 3, 2024, they determined probable cause to file criminal charges against Benthin and another person for “their alleged mistreatment of Heston.” But on July 24, Gilbert police said they were notified that MCAO was declining prosecution “due to no reasonable likelihood of conviction.”

“I don’t know what else I can do to prove my innocence, and it’s just been agony,” Benthin told Arizona’s Family in a May 2024 interview.

Benthin has been trying to clear her name, accusing Gilbert police of interfering with her parental relations of her other child during the detectives’ investigation.

“My fiancé and I were interrogated for five hours separately,” Benthin said.

She says the lead detective appeared to have already made up her mind that Benthin was responsible for the death.

“She said that someone was going to prison over this,” Benthin recalled.

At the time of Heston’s death, Benthin had primary custody of her two children, including a toddler and a four-year-old daughter, the name of whom Arizona’s Family is not disclosing. Both children had different fathers, and Benthin’s fiancé was not the father of either child.

Within days, the father of Benthin’s daughter filed an emergency motion in family court, asking for custody of the daughter. Court documents show he told the judge that Benthin was under investigation in the death of her son and that “the investigating detective told him that the autopsy showed that [Heston] had a significant amount of bruising on him.

The judge gave custody to the father and restricted Benthin’s visitation to every other week, under supervision.

Two months after Heston’s death, the Maricopa County Medical Examiner released its findings, saying the child died of natural causes and likely due to a seizure from an illness.

“Heston had multiple respiratory viruses, including adenovirus, human rhinovirus/enterovirus, and parainfluenza virus 3…It is very likely that Heston had a fever, which put him at risk of a febrile seizure.”

“It should be noted that law enforcement had significant concern for foul play early in the investigation of this death. Heston has bruising on his back, which is consistent with the provided story of him falling onto Legos. He had a few additional superficial cutaneous injuries, all consistent with those of a mobile toddler. He had no injuries suggestive of ongoing abuse or of being battered. No findings in this case are suggestive of foul play.”

Gilbert police said they updated the Arizona Department of Child Safety with the county attorney’s decision.

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