Mom testifies baby was alive when left in boyfriend's care

The West Chicago mother said her 3-month-old baby was healthy and sleeping soundly as she left for work that morning.

But, hours later, Perla Salgado said she rushed home after her boyfriend's frightening phone call to find her little boy's lifeless body.

In emotional testimony, Salgado relived those horrifying moments during a Tuesday preliminary hearing to determine if police had sufficient evidence to arrest her boyfriend on first-degree murder charges.

Gustavo Torres-Medel, 25, is accused April 27 of fatally beating their son, Gustavo Jr., while watching him alone in the former couple's basement apartment on the 200 block of West Brown Street in West Chicago.

"He told me to leave work; that something tragic occurred," Salgado said. "I kept asking him what happened. He only told me that there was a tragedy."

Salgado, 24, who worked at a nearby grocery store, said Torres-Medel was in their bedroom when she arrived home, their son's lifeless body was covered in a blanket while in his baby seat. She tried unsuccessfully to administer CPR.

"He told me the boy is dead," Salgado cried. "I asked him what happened and he didn't say anything."

Salgado said Torres-Medel later said he was "responsible" if charges were brought. After he left the apartment, she presumed to go buy cigarettes, Salgado said she called her store managers, who alerted police.

Torres-Medel returned shortly later.

Investigator Carmen Easton said the father later admitted he had a hangover that morning and grew "desperate" when the fussy baby refused his bottle and kept crying. Easton said Torres-Medel confessed he repeatedly slapped Gustavo Jr., squeezed his torso, shook him and threw the boy into his baby seat.

"He said when he threw him, he could hear when the baby's head hit the plastic," Easton said.

Afterward, she testified, Torres-Medel said he went back to sleep. She said the father told her he soon awoke, put Gustavo Jr. in bed with him, and napped again. He later noticed the baby was unresponsive but, instead of calling 911, alerted Salgado to return home.

"He said he believed he heard him take his last breath," Easton testified.

DuPage Circuit Judge Kathryn Creswell ruled enough probable cause exists for the murder case to continue. Such preliminary hearings are rare in DuPage County, but prosecutors were eager to lock in Salgado's testimony should she return to her native Mexico before the trial.

Torres-Medel buried his head in his lap and wept during most of Tuesday's preliminary hearing. He is being held without bond in the DuPage County jail. The former couple also has an older son.