Trenton man accused of murdering 2-year-old remains jailed
TRENTON >> A New Jersey man accused of suffocating and sexually assaulting his girlfriend’s toddler daughter will remain jailed pending his murder trial.
A judge made the ruling Thursday during a court hearing for Maison Andres Torres.
Mercer County prosecutors say Torres had moved into his girlfriend’s Trenton home two weeks after they met and killed 2-year-old Lia Victoria Merino-Rodriguez a month later.
The Middlesex County Medical Examiner’s Office performed an autopsy and ruled her cause of death as “homicidal violence. Prosecutors say Torres burned the child with hot water, punched her and suffocated her by covering her mouth with his hand.
Authorities have said Torres initially claimed the toddler had fallen down the stairs while playing with her baby carriage.
The girl was not breathing when first responders arrived at a home on the 1500 block of Chestnut Avenue. Police received an emergency call from someone who told them the child fell down steps and was not breathing.
The 25-year-old Torres is charged with murder, aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault and two counts of child endangerment.
Authorities suspected early on that Merino-Rodriguez, the city’s eighth homicide victim of the year, experienced abuse after police noticed what appeared to be old injuries, including burns and bruises on the child’s body, according to sources.
Trenton Police Sgt. Anthony Manzo had relayed to dispatch that it appeared that rigor mortis had already started to set in, suggesting the child had been dead for some time, according to a dispatch report obtained by The Trentonian.
Torres’ public defender declined comment on the charges. The Associated Press contributed to this report