MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A Miami-Dade County man was arrested Tuesday after he beat his 4-month-old daughter to death, police said.
Juan Antonio Gonzalez, 24, faces charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.
According to an arrest report, the baby named Harlow was taken to Jackson North Medical Center on March 22 after being found unresponsive by her mother at their efficiency on Northwest Ninth Street and Fourth Avenue.
The girl was then transferred to Holtz Children's Hospital's pediatric intensive care unit. She was pronounced dead on Friday.
An autopsy was performed Sunday on the baby, which revealed that she had suffered multiple skull fractures and severe brain injuries. She also had a fractured arm and leg, a dislocated elbow and multiple fractured ribs, the report said.
A medical examiner ruled that Harlow died as a result of the injuries.
Police said Gonzalez was arrested Tuesday and gave a recorded confession detailing how he intentionally caused his daughter's injuries when she was being fussy, and ultimately her death.
"We will never see her go to school, get married – we will never see that," Harlow's aunt, Honey Rodriguez, said.
"I wish he rots in hell because the death penalty is not enough," the baby's grandmother, Minerva Rodriguez, said. "I wish he has to the same treatment he gave the baby."
A family member of Gonzalez told Local 10 News that Gonzalez loved his daughter but suffered from mental illness. She said Harlow was born premature because of her mother's drug and alcohol abuse.
According to neighbors, Gonzalez also takes drugs and is known to be violent and has hit his child's mother before.
"He beats her," Jamell Courtedano said. "One night she locked him out because he was being aggressive. He punched through the window, and when he punched through the window the fist hit her eye, and she lied to the police and said that it was a glass that hit her so he wouldn't go to jail."
Gonzalez and his child's mother previously lived in a halfway house at 5021 NW 169th St., which was allegedly set on fire last October by a man who had an argument with the designated facility caretaker.
Gonzalez appeared in court Tuesday, where Miami-Dade County Judge Mindy Glazer ordered that he be held in jail without bond.
"The circumstances surrounding this baby's death are absolutely tragic," Department of Children and Families spokeswoman Michelle Glady said. "DCF has opened a death investigation. The department has no previous involvement with this child and no other children remain in the home."
Rodriguez said Harlow's mother, Avis Rodriguez, has been checked into a mental health facility. They said DCF gave them custody of her older disabled child years ago because of her struggle with alcohol dependency.
"How could you not be a mother?" Honey Rodriguez said. "If you didn't want her, we would have taken her."
Gonzalez has a lengthy arrest history that includes charges of drug possession and strong arm robbery.
Avis Rodriguez was involved in several 2011 investigations, according to a DCF report.