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Coke-addicted man brutally beat girlfriend's infant daughter to death as her mother listened to music in shower

Efrain Gonzalez faces murder charges after the 5-month-old girl died six days after being admitted to the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital
PUBLISHED MAY 25, 2020
Efrain Gonzalez (Hammond Police Department)
Efrain Gonzalez (Hammond Police Department)

HAMMOND, INDIANA: A 24-year-old Indiana man has been accused of beating his girlfriend’s five-month-old baby to death while her mother was listening to music in the shower, reports said. Efrain Gonzalez faces murder charges after the baby girl, Anayelli Avina, died on October 5 last year, six days after being admitted to the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital with severe injuries. He has been charged with murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, neglect of a dependent resulting in death and battery. He has also been accused of aggravated battery, battery resulting in death to a person under 14, and battery resulting in serious bodily injury to a person under 14.

The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office discovered that the baby had died from blunt force injuries to her head. Anayelli’s death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner’s office, which added that the nature of the injuries was "abusive". Gonzalez was taken into custody on Friday by the US Marshals Service, the Times of Northwest Indiana reported.  

Lt. Steve Kellogg, Hammond Police Public Information Officer, said at the time, “We got a 911 call from a mother stating that something was wrong with her baby; the fire department arrived, and took the baby to hospital.” An investigation into the incident revealed that on September 29, the victim's mother told her then boyfriend that she was putting the infant to sleep and going for a shower.

After she took a shower for 12 minutes, during which she was also listening to music, she checked on her baby again and found the infant "gasping for air". According to the police report, when the mother picked up the child, her head flopped back. She had bruising and swelling on the left side of her head and ear and her left eye was completely swollen shut.

The mother's live-in boyfriend was addicted to cocaine and often drank. After emerging from the washroom, she found Gonzalez watching TV, with the volume increased. The couple was waiting for a pizza to get delivered. When the mother tried to call 911 to request emergency services after discovering her daughter in the horrible state, the accused told her not to make "a big deal out of everything" and to "calm down." 

After being questioned by the police, Gonzalez said he heard the infant crying when he was watching TV.  According to him, he tried to grab the baby but she slipped out of his hands and struck her head on the metal railing of the bassinet as she fell. Since she continued to breathe, the accused "kept telling himself she would be okay." 

Initially, the victim was placed on life support at the hospital but when her condition deteriorated, her mother decided to take her off the machine on October 5, 2019. It has not been revealed if the mother has also been charged in the case. Hammond Police revealed last year that the three siblings of the victim had been placed into the custody of the Indiana Department of Child Services.

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