A Kansas man is heading to prison after a jury found him guilty of killing his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son while babysitting the boy. The jurors needed only about three hours to reach their verdict, closing a case that began with a frantic emergency call in 2019.
Bernardo Gonzalez-Mejia, 38, was convicted of first-degree murder, abuse of a child and aggravated endangering of a child over the death of Jacob Aviles, according to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office. The boy’s mother, Stephanie Aviles, had already been convicted in July 2025 of first-degree murder and related charges.
The call that started it all
On Sept. 29, 2019, Wichita police and emergency crews rushed to the family’s home after a report that a child was not breathing. Paramedics tried to save Jacob, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Gonzalez-Mejia was dating Jacob’s mother and was looking after the boy while she went out with her daughter to meet a relative. Aviles said Jacob was eating at the kitchen table when she left the house.
Some time later, Gonzalez-Mejia phoned her with an explanation. He claimed Jacob had choked on a meatball and fainted. He said the boy was starting to turn yellow and did not respond, even after he pulled food from his mouth. Aviles called 911 and headed home, but by the time she arrived, responders were already working on her son.
What the autopsy found
The explanation did not match what investigators saw. Jacob’s body showed extensive bruising, and the autopsy found injuries on his head, arms, legs, abdomen and back. He was also bleeding internally and had several tears to the mesentery, the tissue that holds the intestines to the back wall of the abdomen.
His death was ruled a homicide caused by blunt force trauma. That did not fit with a story about choking and fainting.
Gonzalez-Mejia at first denied hitting the child. He later admitted that the night before, he had spanked Jacob with a belt over his diaper because the boy refused to eat.
A mother’s role
Police also spoke to Aviles, who said Jacob seemed to pick up new injuries each time she left him alone with her boyfriend. She admitted she had seen the bruises and welts, and said Gonzalez-Mejia always had a reason for them. Jacob had been hospitalized twice.
"Bernardo would explain it away," she told police.
Prosecutors argued that she knew Gonzalez-Mejia was abusing her son and still kept leaving Jacob in his care. In September 2025, a judge sentenced her to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. She also received an extra 41 months to be served consecutively.
Where things stand
With both adults now convicted, the legal case over Jacob’s death is nearly at its end. Gonzalez-Mejia remains in custody while he waits for his sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for Dec. 14.
Image credit: GoFundMe
Source: Daily Express US
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