HUNTINGTON BEACH : Man, 26, Arrested in Tot’s Beating Death
A Huntington Beach man was arrested Tuesday in connection with last week’s fatal beating of his girlfriend’s 14-month-old daughter, police said.
Wayne Ichija Yoshisato, 26, was arrested at an undisclosed residence in San Diego County at 11 a.m. on suspicion of murder. He is expected to be charged with first-degree murder with special circumstances, child abuse and two counts of rape with a foreign object, police said.
Huntington Beach Police Lt. Ed McErlain said investigators focused on Yoshisato after interviewing him and others after Felicia Lynn Grunbaum died of massive head injuries on July 10.
The child was beaten to death at a house in the 8800 block of Anthony Drive, where she lived with her mother, Pepper Ann Grunbaum, 19, and Yoshisato, McErlain said.
McErlain declined to elaborate on the circumstances of the murder or on whether the child had been abused on prior occasions.
The investigation is continuing, and Yshisato is being held without bail at the city jail.
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