Joseph Anthony Rendon charged with murder of young daughter

Joseph Anthony Rendon appears in a mugshot released by the Turlock, California Police Department.

A California man faces murder and child molestation charges in connection with the death of his 2-month-old daughter, Turlock Police Department announced on Friday.

The case unfolded when Joseph Anthony Rendon, 23, took his injured daughter to Emmanuel Medical Center in Turlock at around 4:30pm on Wednesday 13 April. Rendon reportedly told staff at the facility that his little girl “had inexplicably stopped breathing” at home. , the police said in a press release. The daughter was not named in the document.

“Although life-saving measures were taken at the hospital, the infant could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead,” police said called.

Hospital staff suspected child abuse as the cause of the infant’s death and called the authorities, the police specified. An autopsy on April 14 found “severe injuries suggestive of serious child abuse,” police said added.

Search warrants were reportedly obtained”[w]within hours” for the defendant’s home and vehicle. The authorities did not release the results of these searches, nor did the police give details of the results of an interview they called “voluntary”.[y].”

“After the questioning,” police said called concludes, “Rendon was arrested and charged with murder and child molestation at the Stanislaus County Jail.”

The police chief said the little girl’s death took a toll on officers investigating the matter.

“This is devastating and difficult to understand why this happened,” the police chief said Jason Hedden. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the child’s family at this difficult time. These cases have an emotional impact on our officers and everyone involved in this type of investigation. We can only pray that the arrest of Joseph Rendon will bring a sense of healing to the family and community.”

According to prison records, a defendant matching Rendon’s first name, last name and age was arrested on April 14 on the charge murder and child abusebut the middle name given in the prison records is Alexander, not Anton. This defendant, who is listed in the prison files, is being held without bail, according to the same files.

Turlock Police Department did not immediately respond to a request from Law&Crime to clarify the defendant’s correct middle name.

A rudimentary online database of Stanislaus County court records does not yet show any active records in the murder and child abuse cases. The prison records that appear to be linked to the case also do not have an active court case number.

However, prison records show a court date of Tuesday, March 19 drunk driving case. Court filings linked to the case indicate that the upcoming hearing will be about an alleged probation violation. The underlying drunk driving matter dates back to Jan. 11, 2021, the court filing said.

Citing court records that Modest bee reported that Rendon “had a conviction for DUI last year” but has no “other criminal history in Stanislaus County.”

“He was supposed to surrender last month to serve a 7-day jail sentence for drunk driving,” the newspaper said, “but it’s unclear if he did.”

The Turlock Police Department wants anyone with information about the case to call officers at (209) 668-5550 (ext. 6780) or email them [email protected] the case detective, Brandon Bertramcan also be reached at (209) 664-7323.

Turlock is south of Modesto and about an hour and a half east of San Francisco Bay.

[Booking photo via Turlock, Calif. Police Department]

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