A 28-year-old man is charged with murder in connection to the beating death of an infant last week in Chicago Lawn on the Southwest Side.
Joshua Juarez is charged with first-degree murder following the death of 9-month-old Josue Juarez, authorities say.
Josue Juarez died Saturday from head trauma and child abuse, and his death was ruled a homicide, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.
Joshua Juarez, 28, was arrested Sunday along with a 30-year-old woman in connection to the death, police said. The woman was released from custody, and Juarez is due for a bail hearing on Wednesday.
A police spokesperson could not confirm if he was the baby’s father.
On Jan. 4, paramedics and officers were called for an unresponsive child in an apartment about 6:15 p.m. in the 3000 block of West 60th Street, police said.
The child’s parents told them the child was choking on food and turned blue, police said. He was taken to Holy Cross Hospital and pronounced dead.
Hospital staff told officers that Juarez had signs of “extensive trauma to the body,” authorities said.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services had no have prior contact with Juarez’s family but were investigating the death, a department spokesman said.
Area Central detectives are leading the homicide investigation.
