Father killed infant son by crushing him, police say

The infant who died last week was crushed when his 6 foot, 255 pound father pressed his knees onto him because he wouldn’t stop being “fussy,” according to an arrest report released Monday.

Las Vegas police arrested 23-year-old Cornelio Rodriguez-Gonzalez on Thursday and charged him with one count of murder by child abuse in connection with the death of his 7-month-old son, Raymond.

Raymond had been seriously injured before his death. He had a bruise under his left eye, another bruise on his right hip and two scrapes on the back of his head.

The baby also had an “old” rib fracture, according to the report. An autopsy performed by the Clark County coroner’s office also showed a lacerated liver, which is believed to be the probable cause of death, according to the report.

Rodriguez-Gonzalez initially told Raymond’s mother, Amy Elliott, that Raymond had fallen.

He told police a different story.

Rodriguez-Gonzalez told detectives Raymond had been “fussy” even after he had been fed. That angered Rodriguez-Gonzalez, and he admitted to police that he knelt on his son, pressing his full force onto Raymond’s chest, the report said.

Police first received calls of an unresponsive baby in the 1900 block of Dwarf Star Drive, near Lake Mead and Lamb boulevards, just before noon on Tuesday.

Rodriguez-Gonzalez was watching Raymond and Elliott’s two other sons that day while the mother was away at work, which Elliott told police is the usual routine. On her lunch break, the mother called Rodriguez-Gonzalez. The two started to argue about Rodriguez-Gonzalez having to take care of Raymond, the report said.

While still talking to Elliott, Rodriguez-Gonzalez went to check on the baby, only to find that Raymond was not breathing. He told the mother Raymond had fallen earlier, but that he was better and had gone to sleep. Elliot told Rodriguez-Gonzalez to call 911, and the Clark County fire department arrived and took Raymond to University Medical Center.

Rodriguez-Gonzalez told Elliott he’d take the other children to a friend’s house and meet her at the hospital.

He never showed up, police said, and his son died from the injuries at the hospital.

Two days later, Rodriguez-Gonzalez turned himself in to police and confessed to kneeling on Raymond, according to the report.

Records show this wasn’t Rodriguez-Gonzalez first problem with caring for children.

In 2012, Child Protective Services investigated him after one of the step sons suffered a broken collar-bone. They determined that Rodriguez-Gonzalez hadn’t provided proper supervision in that case, according to his arrest report.

But Rodriguez-Gonzalez gave CPS a fake name because he had warrants out for his arrest in California, according to the report.

Rodriguez-Gonzalez is being held at the Clark County Detention Center without bail. His arraignment hearing is scheduled for Tuesday at 7:30 a.m.

Ricardo Torress contributed to this report. Contact reporter Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Find him on Twitter: @ColtonLochhead