Update 3:10 p.m. EDT April 25: The man accused of beating a 4-month-old child to death in Memphis was in the United States illegally and had been deported five times, according to local immigrant officials.
The man told police his name was Jose Agurcia-Avila, but authorities said he was using an alias. His real name is Carlos Zuniga-Aviles.
Zuniga-Aviles told local officials his name was Jose Avila-Agurcia, and they found no criminal history in Tennessee.
Zuniga-Aviles was using an alias because he was an “unlawfully present Honduran national,” according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Zuniga-Aviles was previously deported from the U.S. in Feb. 2010, Jan. 2011, March 2012, Nov. 2015, and Dec. 2016.
ICE officials said they will take Zuniga-Aviles into custody to "reinstate his removal order following the resolution of the criminal charges he currently faces." He illegally re-entered the U.S. after being deported in 2016, which is a felony.
Original story: Memphis police arrested a man after they said he punched a baby so hard it stopped breathing, court records showed.
According to police, the victim's mother called 911 on April 12 when her four-month-old child was found unresponsive. Paramedics transported the child the Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in extremely critical condition.
The child was pronounced dead upon arriving to the hospital.
The mother and her boyfriend, Jose Agurcia-Avila, said they did not know what caused the child to stop breathing, police records said.
More than a week later, police said Agurcia-Avila was developed as a suspect. Police said investigators met with the mother who said her boyfriend confessed he punched the child in the head multiple times when he learned the child was not his.
The police report said he thought the child was his during the pregnancy.
Jose Agurcia-Avila was arrested and charged with First Degree Murder in Perpetration of Aggravated Child Abuse and First Degree Murder in Perpetration of Aggravated Child Abuse
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