Joliet's Baby Killer: Sentence Means 2030 DOC Release Date

JOLIET, IL — Santos Loza, the man arrested by Joliet police 14 years ago for the Oct. 26, 2008, death of little Kevion Bender, has finally brought his murder case to a close, pleading guilty to first-degree murder in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence at the Illinois Department of Corrections, Joliet Patch has learned.

Now 43 years old, Loza had his previous Will County first-degree murder convictions overturned; back in 2015, Patch reported that Loza was serving a 34-year prison term for killing Sandra Sitko's 8-month-old child.

As part of last month's plea bargain in front of long-time Will County Judge Sarah Jones, Loza's second count of first-degree murder was dropped by the Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow.

Loza is required to serve the 20-year prison sentence at 100 percent time. However, Loza was given credit for time already served: 4,904 days — that's almost 13-and-a-half years, Will County court records show.

According to prosecutor Debra Mills, Loza lived in Joliet in the 3600 block of Woodside Court, and Joliet police were called to his house on Oct. 26, 2008, in the early morning hours for an unresponsive 8-month-old baby boy, Kevion.

Paramedics rushed the child to the hospital,.where he died. The autopsy revealed multiple blunt force trauma to the child's head with cranial-cerebral injuries.

Little Kevion was dropped off at Loza's house the night before while the child's mother, Sitko, went to work. The child had no prior injuries before being dropped off with Loza and no one had contact with Kevion after Loza put him to sleep, the plea of guilty showed.

"Expert testimony that the child suffered the injuries during a time period when the defendant was the sole caretaker," declared Mills, the assistant Will County State's Attorney. Loza moved to Plainfield after Kevion's death and before he was arrested by Joliet police in August 2010.

According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, Loza became an inmate with them on Feb. 9. He has been sent to the Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mt. Sterling, and he has been in continuous incarceration since Aug. 31, 2010.

He turns 44 in August and his parole date is projected to be Aug. 30, 2030.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

Baby's Twice-Convicted Killer To Stand Trial Again

Plainfield Man Guilty of Murdering Girlfriend's Baby Boy