California man booked in 2008 murder of his baby daughter

A Kingsburg man has been arrested on murder charges in the 2008 murder of his 6-week-old daughter after the case was recently reevaluated by authorities.

He was identified as Jose David Cerna,32.

According to Kingsburg Police Chief Neil Dadian, in June 2008, police received a 911 call from the 1100 block of Lewis Street reporting that the baby was unresponsive. She died the next day at Valley Children’s Hospital. The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma. The Fresno County District Attorney did not file charges in the case after receiving a report by police.

Kingsburg detectives again worked on the case starting in 2018, Dadian said in a news release, and a warrant for Cerna’s arrest was issued on Tuesday, Oct. 29. He was arrested in Long Beach and later booked into Fresno County Jail.

This story was originally published October 31, 2019 at 1:36 PM.