Little Village Dad Beat Daughter To Death With Belt For Not Eating: Prosecutors

CHICAGO, IL — A 26-year-old father faces felony charges stemming from the killing of his 3-year-old daughter over the weekend on the Southwest Side, according to Chicago police. Eduardo Aleman, of the 2500 block of South Homan Avenue, was charged with first-degree murder in the toddler's death Sunday, and he was ordered held without bail Tuesday by a judge who called the incident "horrendous."

During his bail hearing, prosecutors accused Aleman of beating his daughter, Jazebel, with a belt as punishment for refusing to eat, according to the Chicago Tribune. The Cook County medical examiner's office ruled her death a homicide after an autopsy found she had suffered broken ribs, a bruised lung, a ruptured intestine and numerous bruises, some of them matching those that could have been caused by a belt buckle, the report stated. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for the West Side and Chicago — or other neighborhoods. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

According to a police statement Tuesday morning, Jazebel was found unresponsive by authorities at around 1:10 a.m. Sunday, June 18, in the Little Village building where she lived with her dad, his girlfriend and three other children. Aleman, who had called 911, was performing chest compressions on his daughter, who was naked on the bathroom floor when police and paramedics arrived, the Tribune reports. She was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was later pronounced dead, police said.

Originally, Aleman, a construction worker and native Chicagoan, told police he found Jazebel unresponsive in the bathroom, but prosecutors said he later admitted in a video statement that he had beaten her with a belt in the kitchen when she wouldn't eat, according to the Tribune. When Jazebel lost consciousness, Aleman stopped hitting her and splashed water on her in an attempt to revive her, the report added.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services put the three other children living in Aleman's home in protective custody, and the agency has started an investigation, the report stated. Prosectuors claim Jazebel's mother — who also has a 5-year-old child with Aleman who lived in the home —has repeatedly tried to get custody of her kids back from their father, the report added. She last saw Jazebel about three weeks ago, and the girl's doctor had seen the toddler recently, saying she was underweight but in good health, according to the report.

Aleman has a criminal record that includes three felony convictions, and in 2016, he was found guilty of misdemeanor domestic battery for abusing his girlfriend, the Tribune reports.

More via the Chicago Tribune

UPDATED (4:15 a.m. Wednesday, June 21)

Eduardo Aleman, 26 (Photo via the Chicago Police Department)

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