'Evil' dad employed by governor's office 'beat the living daylights' out of newborn daughter who died on Father's Day

Kevin Van Streefkerk (El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office).

A 38-year-old father and former state employee in the California governor’s office will spend the rest of his days behind bars for torturing and beating his newborn baby to death last year.

El Dorado County Superior Court Judge Mark A. Ralphs earlier this month ordered Kevin Van Streefkerk to serve a sentence of life without parole for the horrific slaying of young Alya Van Streefkerk, who died on Father’s Day last year, authorities announced.

“Life in prison is an extraordinary sentence, but there is no sentence that could feel like justice in this case,” prosecutors said in a statement following the sentencing.

Van Streefkerk, who worked as a telecommunications technician at the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, previously reached a deal with the district attorney’s office in which he pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder and an “infliction of torture” enhancement. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped additional murder charges as well as one count of abuse of a child under age 8 resulting in death.

Prosecutors say much of the “heinous physical abuse” inflicted on baby Alya was captured on video and that Van Streefkerk later provided a confession in which he “described multiple beatings” of his newborn daughter, according to a news release from the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office. In describing the final fatal beating, prosecutors said Van Streefkerk told them he “beat the living daylights out of her.”

During Van Streefkerk’s sentencing hearing on July 12, 2024, Deputy District Attorney Kassie Cardullo told the court that in the aftermath of Alya’s death, Van Streefkerk “never cried or showed any emotion” during multiple interviews with authorities.

“The pain that this case caused for everyone who touched it and the family that continues to mourn the life of this sweet, innocent infant, simply pales in comparison to the pain that Alya herself experienced,” Cardullo said. “She was so tiny, so frail and defenseless. She couldn’t fight back or even tell anyone that she was in pain. It’s incomprehensible.”

Prior to formally handing down the sentence, Ralphs described Van Streefkerk’s actions as “especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel.”

In a victim impact statement, Alya’s mother spoke directly to Van Streefkerk as she berated him for killing their daughter, per the Sacramento Bee.

“All I see is evil,” she reportedly said. “I don’t have any remorse for you.”

As previously reported , deputies on June 17, responded to a call regarding a report of “physical abuse against an infant.” The department did not mention the location where the deputies responded but noted that Van Streefkerk lived in Cameron Park with his wife and baby daughter, which is just over 30 miles east of Sacramento.

“As a result of the abuse, the infant sustained numerous injuries,” the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office said in a release . She was immediately transported to a hospital where she was admitted in critical condition. Unfortunately, the little girl succumbed to her injuries and died at the hospital the following day. She was pronounced dead on June 18, which was Father’s Day.

Investigators said they soon obtained evidence implicating Van Streefkerk in Alya’s murder. Cardulo previously said that the newborn suffered “three skull fractures, a minimum of eight blunt force impacts to her tiny face and multiple brain bleeds” as a result of the beatings at the hand of her father.

In addition to his employment with the governor’s office, Van Streefkerk was also employed as the head tennis coach at Mesa Verde High School in Citrus Heights from August 2022 through November 2022.

The post ‘Evil’ dad employed by governor’s office ‘beat the living daylights’ out of newborn daughter who died on Father’s Day first appeared on Law & Crime .