A father in California was arrested for allegedly murdering his 5-month-old daughter.
Jose Francisco Aleman, 22, was arrested on March 7 by detectives in Los Angeles County and booked for murder and assault on a child causing death, officials said on March 11, reported the Los Angeles Times.
The arrest came after South Gate officers were called to a house on the morning of Feb. 23 and found the baby, who was not breathing.
She was declared dead at the scene.
An autopsy determined that the death was a homicide caused by a traumatic injury.
No mugshot was made available for Aleman. He is scheduled to be arraigned on March 26.
Anyone with information about the case was asked to call the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Century Station at 323-568-4800 or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477.
Mother Drives Dead Daughter She Stabbed to Hospital
A Florida mother stabbed her 11-year-old daughter to death before taking her dead body to a hospital, officials said.
Rosa Alcides Rivera, 28, “drove her dead daughter to Winnie Palmer Hospital where Orlando Police Department officers were able to detain her,” the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said on March 10.
Rivera was being held on a first-degree charge.
In the booking picture shared by the sheriff, she appears to be in a straitjacket.
After arriving at the hospital with her daughter, Aleyda, Rivera became “argumentative” with hospital staff, police spokesman Lt. Diego Toruno told the Orlando Sentinel. She “became combative and produced a knife.”
Hospital security and police officers then detained her.
Little information was released about the case and it’s not clear what motivated Rivera to stab her daughter.
When Rivera was being escorted out of the sheriff’s office on Sunday evening, reported WFTV, she told deputies: “I thought I was going to jail.”
A video clip showed her being placed into a patrol car to be taken to jail.
Child Abuse
An estimated 674,000 children were determined to be victims of maltreatment in 2017, according to the Department of Health & Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families. Of the victims, about 75 percent were neglected, 18 percent were physically abused, and 9 percent were sexually abused.
Nationwide, an estimated 1,720 children died from abuse and neglect, a decline from the 1,750 children who died from the same in the previous year. Officials said there was an increase in the number of referrals to Child Protective Services for an investigation but that there was a decline in the number of maltreatment cases, a phenomenon they will be probing.
Of the abused children, 25 percent were younger than 1 year old. Another 52 percent were between 1 year old and 5 years old.
The children who were killed by abuse or neglect were also overwhelmingly young, with about half of the fatalities being younger than 1 year old. Boys made up 58 percent of the deaths.
Perpetrators of abuse or neglect are most often in the 25 to 34 age range. More than four-fifths (83.4 percent) of the perpetrators were between 18 and 44 years old. Perpetrators were more likely to be female.
If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected, contact your local child protective services office or law enforcement agency so officials can investigate and assess the situation. Most states have a number to call to report abuse or neglect.
To find out where to call, consult the State Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Numbers website. The Childhelp organization can also provide crisis assistance and other counseling and referral services. Contact them at 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453).