Mother’s boyfriend charged with murder in toddler’s death

The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office on Friday charged 24-year-old Gage Hurtado with murder in connection to the death of his girlfriend’s child.

The child, 23-month-old Julius Lopez, died Wednesday morning of blunt force trauma, according to the Fresno County Coroner’s Office.

Shortly after the boy died, Fresno County Sheriff’s deputies detained Hurtado and the boy’s mother for questioning. Hurtado was arrested on suspicion of assault likely to cause death to a child.

Court records show Hurtado was charged with corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitant in a case stemming from April 2016.

He is scheduled to be arraigned on the murder charge on Monday.

This story was originally published September 22, 2017 at 5:18 PM with the headline "Mother’s boyfriend charged with murder in toddler’s death."