{"id":229615,"date":"2026-03-21T04:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T04:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/229615\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T04:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T04:21:08","slug":"father-of-slain-8-year-old-genesis-mata-to-undergo-competency-exam-in-april-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/229615\/","title":{"rendered":"Father of slain 8-year-old Genesis Mata to undergo competency exam in April: Records"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The father of slain <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/search?find=Genesis+Mata\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">8-year-old Genesis Mata<\/a> will undergo a competency exam in April, as the criminal case related to her death remains on hold, according to the Kern County court records. <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/search?find=Ray%20Mata%2C%20Jr.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ray Mata, Jr.<\/a> is set to return to court early next month. <\/p>\n<p>He and her stepmother, <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/search?find=Graciela%20Bustamonte\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Graciela Bustamonte<\/a>, are accused of torturing and killing Genesis on August 2, 2025. They are charged with murder, child cruelty likely to produce great injury or death, torture, aggravated mayhem and inflicting injury to a child.<\/p>\n<p>PREVIOUS REPORTING: <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/news\/local\/8-year-old-girl-found-dead-in-bakersfield-hotel-bathtub-two-arrested\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">8-year-old girl found dead in Bakersfield hotel bathtub; two arrested<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A death investigation is underway after a body was discovered inside the La Quinta Inn in central Bakersfield, according to the Bakersfield Police Department. This is a photo of the crime scene on August 2, 2025. PHOTO: KBAK\/KBFX\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/c69f3752-0654-44ae-b7da-f141fb80b8cc-Image23.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A death investigation is underway after a body was discovered inside the La Quinta Inn in central Bakersfield, according to the Bakersfield Police Department. This is a photo of the crime scene on August 2, 2025. PHOTO: KBAK\/KBFX<\/p>\n<p>::WARNING: GRAPHIC DETAILS FROM COURT DOCUMENTS IN NEXT PARAGRAPH::VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED::<\/p>\n<p>Genesis\u2019s body was found blistered and burned in a La Quinta Inn motel bathtub in August 2025. According to a Bakersfield police probable cause report, <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/news\/local\/court-documents-reveal-horrific-abuse-leading-to-death-of-8-year-old-girl-hotel-central-bakersfield-kern-county-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ray and stepmother Graciela Bustamonte were \u201cworking in tandem\u201d over two days and poured scalding hot water on the child, causing severe burns that \u201ccaused ripping of the skin.\u201d<\/a> It also appeared to an officer that she had been whipped multiple times, causing her flesh under the skin to be exposed. Court documents also said Mata and Bustamonte had crushed the child\u2019s hand, causing her fingernails to separate from her hands.<\/p>\n<p>Ray was granted a competency exam on March 20, 2026, by Kern County Judge Charles Brehmer, according to court records. The trial is suspended until Mata\u2019s competency exam is complete.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"KBAK\/KBFX{p}{\/p}\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/e745426b-f547-4ce7-a198-5fd810ca1819-Sequence_MILLS_MATABUSTAMONTEPREPRE_0001_frame_3102.jpeg\"\/>Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n<p>BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT<\/p>\n<p>Ray Mata, Jr. and Graciela Bustamonte will remain in custody without bail. They are due back in court on April 16.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 The father of slain 8-year-old Genesis Mata will undergo a competency exam in April, as&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86818,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-229615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}