Man Allegedly Kills 4-Month-Old Baby After Finding Out He Wasn't His Son

After finding out that a 4-month-old child wasn’t his biological son as he was led to believe, a Tennessee man allegedly beat that boy to death.

Jose Avila-Agurcia, 33, of Memphis, faces first-degree murder charges for the April 12 death of Alexander Lizondro-Chacon, according to online court records.

Law enforcement were called to a home that day after the child’s mother reported that the boy wasn’t breathing, the Commercial Appeal in Memphis reports.

Lizondro-Chacon suffered a fractured skull and rib and died of blunt force trauma to the head at a local children’s hospital. The child also had a  "serious case of pneumonia" according to an affidavit obtained by Oxygen.com.

His death has been ruled a homicide.

Both Avila-Agurcia and the child’s mother, Mercy Lizondro-Chacon, initially told investigators they had no idea how the child was injured, according to the affidavit. Avila-Agurcia was watching him while the boy's mother was at work. But later, the baby’s mother admitted that the suspect beat the baby after becoming enraged over the fact he wasn’t his real dad because “he was made to believe that during the pregnancy he was the father,” the affidavit cites. It’s not clear when he found out he wasn’t the father.

Jose Avila-Agurcia Photo: Shelby County Sheriff's Office

It’s not clear if Avila-Agurcia has a lawyer that can speak on his behalf at this time. He has been jailed without bond. He has been charged with both first-degree murder in perpetration of aggravated child abuse and first-degree murder in perpetration of aggravated child neglect.

A Honduran native, he is allegedly in the country illegally and his real name is Carlos Zuniga-Avile, according to Fox13 Memphis.

He was previously deported five times, including most recently in 2016, a local Immigration and Customs Enforcement office told Fox13.