Aliya Acosta | Homicide Watch Chicago

Prosecutors: 2-month-old Aliya Acosta was shaken to death by her 18-year-old father, who also tried to kill her mother

Jeff Mayes — Fri, 09 Jun 2017 12:55:26 -0500

By ANDY GRIMM
Chicago Sun-Times

Christopher Villegas | Cook County Sheriff's Dept.

A Humboldt Park man admitted to shaking his infant daughter Aliya Acosta so hard at their Humboldt Park home, it killed the 2-month-old, according to Cook County prosecutors.

And days after Aliya died, 18-year-old Christopher Villegas allegedly tried to strangle the child’s mother.

Villegas was ordered held without bond Thursday on a charge of first-degree murder for Aliya, who died Feb. 9 after three weeks on life support at Lurie Children’s Hospital.

The child’s mother left Aliya alone with Villegas for several hours on Jan. 17, when she heard the baby “cry out in a strange way” from her father's bedroom, Assistant State’s Attorney Craig Taczy said at the bond hearing.

Aliya Acosta | Facebook

The woman went to the bedroom and found the baby on the bed struggling to breathe, Taczy said.

She and Villegas took the child to St. Mary’s Hospital, where doctors noted the baby’s skin was gray, her pulse was weak, and the child was unable to breathe.

Aliya was transferred to Lurie, where she was diagnosed with bleeding inside her skull, low blood flow to the brain, and fractured ribs. The family decided to turn off life support on Feb. 9, and the child died.

An autopsy ruled the baby died of multiple injuries from child abuse, and ruled her death a homicide.

Five days later, Villegas allegedly got into an argument with the girl’s mother, shoved her onto a couch and began choking her.

She struggled free, but Villegas hit her and threw her down onto the couch again, choking her with both hands, Taczy said.

Villegas, who knew the woman was pregnant when he attacked her, was arrested and charged with aggravated domestic battery, but was released on electronic monitoring.

In February, detectives investigating the domestic battery case also questioned him about the death of his daughter.

Villegas admitted he “shook the baby too hard,” and that the infant’s “eyes became glazed before the (baby) began throwing up,” Taczy said.

WEEK IN REVIEW: At least 10 more killed in Chicago, including 2-month-old baby and popular local rap singer

Jeff Mayes — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 12:28:31 -0600

By JEFF MAYES
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

It was another violent week in Chicago, with at least 10 people killed last week, including three in the West Austin neighborhood alone.

The death toll included a 2-month-old girl whose death in the Humboldt Park neighborhood was ruled a homicide by child abuse; and a popular local rapper killed after getting into a fight on a CTA Green Line train near downtown.

Family members took the baby, Aliya Acosta, to a hospital on Jan. 17 after she became unresponsive in her home, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner's office. She was later transferred to Lurie Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 2:04 a.m. Thursday.

An autopsy Friday found she died from multiple injuries caused by child abuse, and the death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner's office.

An Illinois Department of Children and Family Services spokeswoman said the agency is investigating allegations of abuse against the girl’s mother, father and other caregivers; while Area North detectives are conducting a death investigation.

The rapper was stabbed to death Wednesday afternoon near Metra tracks in the Fulton River District. Walter Long Jr., 24, got into a fight with someone who pulled out a sharp object about 3:20 p.m. in the 400 block of North Clinton, police and the medical examiner’s office said.

Long, who rapped under the names dinnerwithjohn and JohnWalt, suffered a laceration to his upper left torso and was pronounced dead at the scene.

On Thursday, Kevin Alexander of East Garfield Park was charged with Long's murder. Alexander, 23, who knew Long, got into a fight with him on a train, which continued when they got off. Prosecutors say Long tried to walk away, but AlLexander went after him and stabbed him twice in the torso.

Alexander was taken into custody about two hours later at the University of Illinois Hospital, where he was being treated for a laceration to his chin, police said. He was ordered held on a $200,000 bond.

The week's death toll in Austin started when a man was shot to death on a front porch early Saturday. Keenan Turner, 29, was sitting in front of a home about 2:30 a.m. in the 300 block of North Lorel when someone walked up and shot him repeatedly across the body, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Turner was taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, where he was pronounced dead minutes later.
A 33-year-old man was found shot to death hours later in a neighborhood alley. Officers responding to a shooting at 6:53 a.m. in the 100 block of North Menard found Taurins Pope unresponsive with a gunshot wound to the head, according to police and the medical examiner's office. He was dead at the scene.
A woman was killed and three other people wounded in a Saturday night shooting in Austin. The four were outside about 8:30 p.m. in the 100 block of North Mayfield when a dark SUV approached, police said. Two people got out and started shooting. Tenisha Mallett, 21, was shot in the neck and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police and the medical examiner's office.
A 25-year-old man was shot in the arm and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. An 18-year-old man was shot in his legs and was taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park. And another 25-year-old woman was shot in her face and was taken to Stroger Hospital. All of their condition were stabilized, police said.
A man was found shot to death Sunday afternoon in the South Side Auburn Gresham neighborhood. Ryan Ellis, 25, was found with multiple gunshot wounds to the body in the 1400 block of West 84th Street at 1:55 p.m., according to police and the medical examiner's office. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
A 45-year-old man was killed and another man wounded in a shooting Sunday afternoon in the South Shore neighborhood. Steven C. Jackson was standing in the 2400 block of East 75th Street at 1:44 p.m. when someone walked up and fired shots, according to police and the medical examiner's office.
Jackson was shot in the face and neck, and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later. A second man, 54, was found with a gunshot wound to the right thigh and was also taken to Northwestern, where his condition stabilized.
A 17-year-old boy was shot to death Thursday night in the Jefferson Park neighborhood on the Northwest Side. About 9 p.m., Alvin Stoll was with someone else in an alley in the 5300 block of West Foster when a shooter in a dark-colored car opened fire, hitting the boy in the abdomen, according to police and the medical examiner’s office. Stoll was taken to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, where he died an hour later.
A man and woman were found shot to death Monday morning in a home in the Brighton Park neighborhood on the Southwest Side. Officers responded to a call of a person shot at 7:36 a.m. in the 2500 block of West 46th Street, according to police. Pricilla A. Gloria Reyes, 33, was found shot in the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the medical examiner’s office. Edwin Eliseco Chuy Cutzal, 31, was shot multiple times and was also pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said. Both of their deaths were ruled homicides.

Autopsy: 2-month-old Aliya Acosta of Humboldt Park died from 'multiple injuries caused by child abuse'

Jeff Mayes — Fri, 10 Feb 2017 15:58:12 -0600

By LUKE WILUSZ
Chicago Sun-Times Wire

An autopsy found that 2-month-old Aliya Acosta, who died Thursday after spending the last three weeks in a hospital, was a child abuse victim and her death has been ruled a homicide.

Family members took Aliya to Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center about 4 p.m. Jan. 17 after she became unresponsive in her home in the West Side Humboldt Park neighborhood, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Aliya was later transferred to Lurie Children’s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 2:04 a.m. Thursday, authorities said. An autopsy Friday found she died from multiple injuries caused by child abuse, and ruled her death a homicide.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is investigating allegations of abuse against the infant’s mother, father and other caregivers, department spokeswoman Veronica Resa said. DCFS has not had prior contact with the family.

Area North detectives are also conducting a death investigation, police said.