Man beats, jams screw in toddler stepdaughter during World Cup game

June 27, 2010 10:19 PM
By JARED TAYLOR, The Monitor

McALLEN — Police arrested a man who allegedly beat and suffocated his 2-year-old stepdaughter during the World Cup soccer game Saturday afternoon before jamming a screw down her throat in an attempt to make the slaying appear accidental.

McAllen police arrested Hector Castro, 28, after firefighters called officers to his apartment at 3101 N. Eighth St at 4:18 p.m. Saturday, said McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez.

Firefighters and emergency medical personnel had been called to the house in reference to the girl's apparent choking on a screw, Rodriguez said. But after a cursory examination of the girl, whose name was not released by police, it was clear the screw had nothing to do with her death, police said.

"There are no words for this," said Rodriguez. "It makes you want to think about doing lots of things to this guy, but he will face the criminal justice system just like everybody else."

Castro, an undocumented immigrant, gave investigators a confession that implicated himself in the girl’s death, Rodriguez said.

Castro told investigators he was looking after his stepdaughter as he tried to watch the World Cup soccer match on television Saturday afternoon.

The toddler would not stop crying, and Castro allegedly gave the girl a severe beating, cracking several of her ribs before suffocating the girl, Rodriguez said. He then jammed a screw down her throat in an attempt to make the suffocation appear accidental.

Castro will face a capital murder charge at an arraignment set for today.

Neighbors said they saw police set up yellow caution tape, examining Castro's apartment for several hours Saturday afternoon and evening.

But no one has returned to the unit at the Greens Pointe apartment complex, said neighbor Irma Garcia.

"I would hear the baby crying all the time," said Garcia as she held her year-old son in her arms. "Not even my son would cry that much."

Four other children live at the apartment, Garcia said. The kids have been transferred into the custody of Child Protective Services, Rodriguez said.

The toddler's death marks the McAllen’s fifth murder case of 2010 and the third this month. Those three most recent cases involved illegal immigrant suspects, the chief said.

"The criminal justice system will spend horrendous amounts of time, effort and money to make these cases," Rodriguez said. "That is time, effort and money that our regular citizens are deprived of."

Castro faces a capital murder charge in the case because of the victim's young age.

"It is unimaginable," Rodriguez said. "I just can't fathom, you know, a grown adult person beating a 2-year-old to death.

"I have grandkids and it is just impossible for me to imagine this kind of behavior."

From: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/stepdaughter-113782-beats-toddler.html