Man accused of raping, beating, burning, suffocating, killing girlfriend’s 2-year-old daughter
A New Jersey man was arrested after police say that he raped, punched and beat, burned, suffocated and killed his girlfriend’s two-year-old daughter. NBC News in Philadelphia reported that following his arrest, Maison Andres Torres, 25, was charged with first-degree murder and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
On Wednesday around 4:20 p.m., police responded to the 1500 block of Chestnut Avenue in Trenton, New Jersey, for a report of an unresponsive 28-month-old girl who fell down the stairs. The girl, identified as Lia Victoria Merino-Rodriguez, was taken to the hospital where she was pronounced dead a short time later.
The New York Post reported that when a neighbor discovered the child inside her home and not breathing, that she was transported to a local hospital where she passed away from her abuse. Prosecutors forming the case against Torres said that he “caused Lia’s death by burning her with scalding water, striking her with his fists and suffocating her with his hands.” Burns and bruises were evident across the baby girl’s little body.
Following her autopsy, the Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the child’s cause of death to be “homicidal violence.”
Although initially charged with first-degree murder and second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, additional charges filed against Torres now include first and second-degree sexual assault. Authorities also shared the police as saying that the child’s body showed evidence of injuries older than just those that ultimately killed her, according to The Trentonian.
Trenton Police Sgt. Anthony Manzo relayed to dispatch that it appeared that rigor mortis had already started to set in, suggesting the child had been dead for some time, according to a dispatch report.
The murderous boyfriend is currently incarcerated in the Mercer County Correctional Center. He’ll be in court on August 27 for a detention hearing.
~ Written by Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Connect with Richard on Facebook and Twitter
