“He admitted to us what had happened with the baby, how he abused it physically, how he felt the child wasn’t his and how he did not respect or want that child.”
An illegal immigrant has been arrested in New York for allegedly brutally beating his infant daughter to death. Marlon Rabanales-Pretzantzin, 20, of Guatemala, was taken into custody on March 7 and has been booked into the Nassau County Jail without bail. He allegedly admitted to killing his child, authorities said.
Rabanales-Pretzantzin has been charged with second-degree murder over the death of two-month-old Liseyda Rabanales-Barrios, who was found dead at a home on Maple Road. Police said the infant sustained broken bones, abrasions, and other injuries. Initially, first responders were told that the infant fell unconscious after falling off of a bed.
According to charging documents obtained by ABC 7, Rabanales-Pretzantzin repeatedly punched the child in the stomach with a closed fist, slapped the child in the face, violently shook her, and threw her. He then allegedly used a closed fist to place his body weight against the child's chest.
Rabanales-Pretzantzin reportedly admitted to investigators that he attacked the child because he didn't want it, police said.
"He admitted to us what had happened with the baby, how he abused it physically, how he felt the child wasn't his and how he did not respect or want that child," said Nassau County Police Detective Capt. Stephen Fitzpatrick during a press briefing. "He hit the child several times around the head and face. He threw the child on the ground."
Fitzpatrick indicated that an autopsy report found "older fractures within the ribs," suggesting that the two-month-old child may have suffered previous physical abuse. The detective explained that the child sustained cervical spinal damage, sub-cranial bleeding, fractured ribs, and facial abrasions in the attack that killed her.
The mother of the child, 20, was reportedly not involved in the beating. Authorities removed a one-year-old child from the home for evaluation.
Rabanales-Pretzantzin illegally entered the United States through El Paso, Texas, in 2022. He was captured by immigration authorities but was later released pending an immigration hearing. It's unclear how he arrived in New York.
Patrick Ryder, the Nassau County police commissioner, slammed the border policies of the previous administration, saying, "Enough is enough."
"I want you to all think about this man who should not have been in this country," said Ryder. "This man should have never had a child in with him, in his residence. And what he did to this kid is unthinkable. Enough is enough. We got to stop this. We can't have it no more."
Authorities said an ICE detainer will be placed on Rabanales-Pretzantzin at the jail. He was arraigned on Thursday and pleaded not guilty.
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