Criminal complaint says murder suspect left infant son alone to go out drinking
Trending
A Marshalltown man accused of first-degree murder in the death of his infant son allegedly left the child at home alone to go out drinking and turned off his Snapchat location to avoid being caught, according to a criminal complaint that is now publicly available.
Yonatan Miguel Vasquez-Avalos, 19, is charged with first-degree murder, a Class A felony, child endangerment causing death, a Class B felony, and domestic assault with strangulation, a Class D felony. The complaint indicates that Vasquez-Avalos found the victim unresponsive with a blanket over his face on Aug. 29 and refused to call emergency services for over an hour until taking the child to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
An autopsy showed that the child had multiple injuries on his head and body. Additionally, phone, location data, video and Flock camera records supported the assertion that Vasquez-Avalos lied to law enforcement about his whereabouts on the night of the child's death, and he admitted to leaving the child alone while he left home and turned off his location.
The child endangerment complaint alleges that he left his South 1st Street residence for two hours to drink and turned off his Snapchat location to avoid being caught. A third criminal complaint alleges that the suspect committed a domestic assault against a pregnant person back in March by applying pressure to the throat or neck of the victim, who also alleges multiple other domestic violence incidents in the past.
A search warrant application filed by the Marshalltown Police Department (MPD) on Sept. 1 shows that the mother of the child was at work during the timeframe of the death.
Vasquez-Avalos is currently being held at the Marshall County Jail without the possibility of pretrial release, and a preliminary hearing is set for Oct. 9 at 9:30 a.m.