West Chicago dad found guilty of murdering son

A West Chicago father who prosecutors said was enraged in 2009 when his 3-month-old son wouldn't stop crying was convicted Friday of murdering the infant.

Gustavo Torres-Medel, 27, was found guilty of first-degree murder by DuPage Circuit Judge Kathryn Creswell, who presided this week over a three-day bench trial.

Torres-Medel showed no outward sign of emotion as he learned of the ruling. He could be ordered to serve up to 100 years in prison when he's sentenced in July.

Creswell said the evidence she reviewed proves Torres-Medel “furiously beat his own little boy” while he was baby-sitting the infant on the morning of April 27, 2009. Gustavo Jr., who was healthy when left in the care of his father, was found dead with numerous injuries, including seven broken ribs and bruising on the chest and face.

Creswell dismissed a defense attorney's argument that a fall could have caused a traumatic blunt force injury on the back of the infant's head.

“This was not the result of an accident,” Creswell said. “This child was savagely beaten.”

Prosecutors said during the trial that Torres-Medel beat the child in “a horrible fit of rage,” sparked by the father becoming “desperate” because Gustavo Jr. kept crying.

They said Torres-Medel refused to tell his girlfriend what happened when she came home to find her son's lifeless body. Perla Salgado, the child's mother, testified that Torres-Medel only told her that he would be “responsible” for any charges.

When Torres-Medel left the apartment, Salgado called a manager at the West Chicago grocery store where she works. The manager came over to the home along with several co-workers and then called 911.

Torres-Medel returned a short time later.

But before going home, Torres-Medel went to St. Charles to see Alfredo Escobar. Escobar, who grew up in the same city in Mexico as Torres-Medel, testified that Torres-Medel asked him to notify his family that he was going to jail. After repeatedly being asked what happened, Torres-Medel eventually told Escobar that his son was dead and that he had hit the boy.

Escobar recalled Torres-Medel saying, “What I have done is not going to be forgiven.”

“Those are the statements of a guilty man,” Creswell said.