ST. CHARLES, Ill. (STNG) -- A northwest suburban man will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing his girlfriend’s toddler son three years ago.
Andres Velazquez, 28, of the 100 block of Woodland Court in Carpentersville was sentenced Thursday to natural life in prison for the January 2006 death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son, according to a release from the Kane County State's Attorney's office.
The life sentence is mandatory according to Illinois law because Velazquez was older than 17 and the victim, Ernest LeFlore Jr., was younger than 12 at the time of the murder.
Judge Timothy Sheldon imposed the sentence Thursday after convicting Velazquez on May 9 of first-degree murder following a bench trial, the release said.
On Dec. 30, 2005, Velasquez threw Ernest 12 feet over a bed and onto a floor radiator, the release said. Then, holding the boy by his waist, Velazquez threw him 11 feet onto an uninflated air mattress. The child landed on his head both times. Velazquez then picked up the child, held him above his own head and dropped him on the floor onto his head.
Velazquez then called the boy’s mother at her job and told her Ernest wasn’t breathing. She told Velasquez to bring the boy to her. He did, and they took him to Sherman Hospital in Elgin, where he was diagnosed with a skull fracture and bleeding beneath the skull, the release said.
Ernest was transferred to Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where he was further diagnosed with multiple skull fractures, bleeding on the entire right side and back of his brain, brain contusions and a broken right clavicle, the release said.
He died on on Jan. 6, 2006, and an autopsy showed the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.
During the investigation, Velazquez told authorities that the boy’s injuries were the result of rough play, the release said.
Velazquez had been held in the Kane County Jail on $2 million bond, which was revoked upon conviction.
“The terror this young child must have felt in those excruciating final minutes of his consciousness is unimaginable,” Asst. State’s Attorney Christine Bayer said in the release. "All Ernest has left is justice."
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