Alejandro Cuevas was Charged Last Wednesday with Murdering Baby Girl
BANNING (CNS) – A 40-year-old man accused of inflicting deadly injuries on an infant he was babysitting in San Jacinto was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder and other offenses.
Alejandro Cuevas of Beaumont was arrested last week following a months- long Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation into the death of the baby girl, identified in court documents only as “P.M.”
Along with murder, Cuevas was charged with assault on a child resulting in great bodily injury or death.
The defendant, who is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Smith Correctional Facility, was slated to make his initial court appearance Wednesday afternoon at the Banning Justice Center.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Jarred Bishop, the alleged deadly assault occurred on the morning of Aug. 23, 2024, at a residence in the 2000 block of Whispering Bells Road, near Kirby Street.
Bishop said patrol deputies were sent to the location, along with paramedics, to investigate reports of a 4-month-old girl in respiratory distress.
The sergeant said the deputies initiated resuscitative measures until an ambulance took her to a regional trauma center, where she was placed in the pediatric intensive care unit.
“Over the next several days, the child’s condition continued to deteriorate,” he said.
P.M. died on Aug. 29, 2024.
Due to visible injuries on the infant, as well as other factors, the matter was turned over to the Central Homicide Unit, according to Bishop.
“After extensive investigation … it was determined the juvenile died as a result of homicidal violence,” the sheriff’s spokesman said, without elaborating further.
Detectives ultimately fixed blame for the alleged attack on Cuevas, whom Bishop described as “an associate of the victim’s family.”
The defendant was taken into custody without incident at his residence on Price Street Friday.
He has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
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