Chester County man beat his toddler stepson to death and never called for help for the boy, DA says

Enrique Lopez-Gomez told investigators in Chester County that he was frustrated that his wife’s 21-month-old son wouldn’t stop crying early Monday morning. So he hit the child in his abdomen, hard enough, prosecutors said Thursday, that he killed him.

Although the toddler was lethargic, unresponsive and visibly injured, Lopez-Gomez did not call for medical help for him for hours afterward, and instead performed what he described to investigators as a “Guatemalan healing ritual” involving lemon oil, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest.

Lopez-Gomez, 20, has been charged with third-degree murder, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child, and related crimes in the death of the toddler, whom prosecutors did not name. There was no indication he had hired an attorney.

He remained in custody, in lieu of $10 million bail, as well as a detainer from the U.S. Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. District Attorney Chris de Barrena-Sarobe said Lopez-Gomez and his wife are both natives of Guatemala, but it remained unclear if he was in the country legally — sometimes, ICE issues detainers on prisoners whose alleged crimes violate the terms of their visas, according to the prosecutor.

De Barrena-Sarobe said the charges filed against Lopez-Gomez were the latest example of crimes against children in the county. Two other cases involving child victims have been filed in the last month, one involving the fatal neglect and abuse of Malinda Hoagland, 12, and another connected to Hunter Hawa, 8, who accidentally overdosed on narcotics belonging to his parents.

“It’s a straightforward fact scenario and unfortunately it’s just as disturbing as it is straightforward,” de Barrena-Sarobe said of the case involving Lopez-Gomez.

Investigators were first notified of the case just before 11 p.m. Monday, when the boy’s uncle called 911 to report that the child was unresponsive at a home on Cope Road in Kennett Township. As soon as medics and police officers arrived, they “realized very quickly that something was tragically wrong with this child,” de Barrena-Sarobe said.

The boy had no pulse, shallow breathing, and bruises on his abdomen, chest, legs, arms, and neck, according to the affidavit. He could not be resuscitated.

Medical staff at Nemours Children’s Hospital pronounced the child dead not long after. An autopsy later ruled he died of blunt-force trauma, and that his injuries were likely deliberately inflicted.

At the hospital, the boy’s mother, Nora Perez-Gomez, and Lopez-Gomez gave inconsistent information about the child’s injuries and where they lived, the affidavit said. Neither could explain his injuries, investigators said, aside from saying they believed the “evil eye” had been cast upon him.

During an interview Wednesday, Lopez-Gomez told detectives that he had been changing the toddler’s diaper inside the West Grove Township apartment he and Perez-Gomez share about 4:30 a.m. on Monday when he slipped and fell, accidentally hitting the boy with his knee, the affidavit said.

When the boy continued to cry, Lopez-Gomez punched him in his abdomen and put him to bed. When Perez-Gomez came home from work, her husband did not tell her what had happened, even as the boy was showing signs of serious injury, according to the affidavit.

Perez-Gomez later took the boy to the home on Cope Road. Lopez-Gomez did not go with her, but arrived later to perform the healing ritual, the affidavit said. He did not tell anyone at the home about how the boy had been injured, nor call for medical assistance.

He told police the boy was “not breathing and unresponsive,” according to the affidavit.