BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — The father of one-year-old Amilio Gutierrez, who died after being left in a hot car by his mother in Bakersfield, was arrested after an overnight standoff on multiple felony charges in Porterville.
According to Porterville Police Chief Eric Rader, the suspect, identified as 21-year-old Rosendo Gutierrez, was wanted on charges including burglary, domestic violence, child abuse and intimidating a witness.
According to Chief Rader, Gutierrez returned to an apartment at the Park View Village Apartments on Thursday, June 25, 2026, at around 7 p.m. That was when his girlfriend called the police.
Police said Gutierrez climbed into the attic of the apartment complex and refused to come out, prompting an hours-long standoff that continued through the night and into Friday morning.
Chief Rader said officers were concerned not only about public safety, but also Gutierrez’s well-being because of the extreme heat during the incident.
Police said officers eventually searched the attic and found that Gutierrez had crawled into another apartment. Police found him hiding inside a storage closet containing a water heater.
Once officers found him, Gutierrez quickly surrendered without further incident.
Chief Rader said the motives for Gutierrez’s actions are still unclear. However, he said he was told Gutierrez had referenced the hot-car death of his young son as an explanation for his recent behavior.
The chief also described Gutierrez as someone with a lengthy criminal history, noting that he was incarcerated at the time of his son’s death.
Gutierrez is in custody as the investigation continues.
On June 29, 2025, the mother of Rosendo Gutierrez’s children, Maya Hernandez drove from Visalia to Bakersfield for a cosmetic procedure, leaving her 1-year-old son, Amillio, and 2-year-old son Mateo in the car with snacks, cartoons playing on her phone, and the air conditioning on. During the trial, a Bakersfield Police Department investigation found that the car’s air conditioning shut off after about an hour, leaving the children in temperatures over 100 degrees. Hernandez was inside the spa for more than two and a half hours. Both children were lethargic when found, with Amillio showing no signs of life at the hospital. He died.
A Kern County jury was deadlocked on second-degree murder in the case of Maya Hernandez, the Visalia mother charged in the hot-car death of her one-year-old son, Amilio, and the endangerment of his two-year-old brother, Mateo, as she attended a medical spa for a liquid BBL in Bakersfield back in June of this year. She was found guilty on two counts of child endangerment. PHOTO: KBAK/KBFX
Hernandez was sentenced to 15 years.
Following Hernandez’s sentencing back in March 20526, Rosendo Gutierrez spoke to Eyewitness News.
The father of the two boys, Rosendo Guiterrez, spoke out following the sentencing.{ } PHOTO: KBAK/KBFX
In the interview, Gutierrez said to Eyewitness News, “I think I let them down cause I wasn’t there to save them.”