Man sentenced in death of child after fatally beating him in Texas hotel and burying him in Colo. ravine

SAN ANTONIO (TCN) -- A 29-year-old man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for causing fatal injuries to his girlfriend’s 5-year-old son, who officials found in a ravine near a campsite in 2021.

The Bexar County Criminal District Attorney’s Office announced Aug. 14 that a judge sentenced Daniel Garcia to life in prison for injury to a child with serious bodily injury after a jury convicted him of the charge. Prosecutors said Garcia was initially charged with the murder of 5-year-old Domenic Aguilar-Acevedo, but they proceeded with the injury to a child offense "as a matter of legal strategy."

According to the district attorney’s office, in July 2021, Garcia and his girlfriend, Nickolle Aguilar, were at an extended-stay hotel in San Antonio when Garcia "struck Domenic with significant force." Investigators obtained video revealing Garcia carrying what appeared to be a child’s body out of their room and down the stairs. Garcia and his girlfriend reportedly drove to a campsite at a Colorado state park, where they buried Aguilar-Acevedo’s remains in a ravine.

According to an arrest warrant reviewed by KMGH-TV, Garcia and Aguilar reportedly fled to Mexico and then Costa Rica following the victim’s death and burial. Prosecutors said the victim’s grandmother called authorities concerned for the well-being of her grandson. The grandmother reportedly met with the couple in Costa Rica and said her daughter, Aguilar, could not explain what happened to the boy.

The grandmother allegedly said Garcia had physically abused Aguilar-Acevedo and hit the boy so hard that the victim was thrown against the wall and fell to the floor.

The arrest warrant as cited by KMGH says Aguilar did not seek medical help because she was "too eager to be in a relationship with a man."

San Antonio police reportedly located Aguilar-Acevedo’s remains, and an autopsy showed evidence of trauma.

Following an interview with the boy’s grandmother in Costa Rica, officials arrested Garcia and Aguilar in Florida, and they were extradited to Texas to face trial.

Aguilar pleaded guilty earlier this month to injury to a child causing serious bodily injury by omission and received a sentence of 15 years in prison, KSAT-TV reports.

Bexar County Criminal District Attorney Joe Gonzales said in a statement, "The evidence in this case is tragic and painful from beginning to end."