Boy, 4, Is Beaten to Death

Paramedics called to a North Hollywood apartment Thursday found a 4-year-old boy beaten to death, and police named the mother’s boyfriend as a suspect.

The child was found on the couch about 3:40 p.m. There were no signs of forced entry to the third-floor apartment.

Police are searching for Jose “Chill” Cruz, 25, of the Arleta-Pacoima area.

“I want this guy. We are pulling out all the stops,” said Det. Mike Coffey. “I want to get him before he gets out of town.”

The child’s great-aunt, Nancy Guangorena, identified the boy as Richard Mendez and his mother as Yvonne Guangorena, 19.

Until recently, Cruz lived with the two in the apartment on Laurel Canyon Boulevard near Saticoy Street, a friend said. Cruz often stayed with Richard while his mother was at work.

“We believe [Cruz] was home with the child, but we don’t know if he was alone and we don’t know if the mother was with him,” Coffey said. Police are waiting to interview her.

Coffee said police had responded to disturbance and spousal abuse calls at the apartment. The most recent was about a month ago. It did not involve the boy, he said.

“We told her and told her [to leave him] but she wouldn’t listen,” Nancy Guangorena said.

Police think they saw Cruz in Pacoima at about 8 p.m. Officers chased him on foot, but lost him.

Yvonne Guangorena dropped out of high school at 16 after having Richard because she wanted to care for him, her aunt said. She works as a secretary.

“She loved that little boy,” she said. “She was a good mom. She was hard-working.”

Nancy Guangorena said Richard was well-behaved and loved playing with his cousins. For this fourth birthday in February, his mother and relatives surprised Richard with a trip to Disneyland.

“He was so excited and so happy,” she said.

As word spread of the boy’s death, family and neighbors gathered outside the home among a stretch of working-class apartment buildings.

Neighbor Maria Ponce said Cruz told her a few months back that he was moving out.

“I know they had separated. He said they needed time apart,” she said.

Cruz is 5-feet-7 and weighs about 160 pounds. He has tattoos on the right side of his chest and right arm. His head is shaved and he is clean-shaven, police said.

Some neighborhood children said Cruz had put up a basketball backboard on the south side of the building for them around Christmas and that he often played with them.