Father Held as Murder Suspect in Beating Death of 3-Year-Old

A 32-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the beating death of his 3-year-old son, sheriff’s officials said Friday.

Authorities said that around 8:15 a.m. Thursday, Joaquin Figueroa Ayala, who is believed to be a Santa Ana resident, had driven his son to the Mission Viejo house where his wife works as a maid.

There, Sheriff’s Lt. Bob Rivas said, “he told his wife that the child was not feeling good.”

“She saw that something was wrong,” Rivas said, “and called the paramedics because it appeared that the child was not breathing.”

The boy was taken to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, where he was pronounced dead at 8:51 a.m. Thursday.

Preliminary findings from an autopsy completed Friday indicate that the child, whom coroner’s officials identified as Francisco Trujillo, died from blunt-force trauma to the head and body, Rivas said.

Ayala was arrested shortly before 9 p.m. Thursday.

Sheriff’s investigators could not confirm where the alleged beating would have occurred.

Rivas said that investigators had determined from an interview with Ayala in the hospital that Francisco had been with his father before arriving at the house in Mission Viejo.

Ayala is being held in Orange County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail, Rivas said.

The boy’s death comes at a time when reports of child abuse in Orange County have reached an all-time high. According to data compiled by the Orange County Child Abuse Registry, reported cases of abuse for a one-year period ending in July rose 8% over the previous 12-month period, and they were nearly 25% higher than they were for the year before that.