{"id":116090,"date":"2026-01-08T22:39:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T22:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/116090\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T22:39:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T22:39:10","slug":"man-gets-35-years-for-toddlers-death-in-corpus-christi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/116090\/","title":{"rendered":"Man gets 35 years for toddler’s death in Corpus Christi"},"content":{"rendered":"

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 A 22-year-old man was sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty in connection with the death of a 3-year-old boy in Corpus Christi on February 11, 2025.<\/p>\n

Enrique Lopez accepted the plea deal for his role in the death of Augustine Valencia, who died after being found unresponsive at The Veranda Apartments on South Staples Street.<\/p>\n

Augustine was in Lopez’s care while the child’s mother attended a court appearance related to DWI charges involving a child. Lopez, who was the mother’s boyfriend, was watching Augustine and his 2-year-old brother at the time.<\/p>\n

According to a probable cause statement obtained by KRIS 6 News, an unidentified caller contacted 911, reporting that a 3-year-old child was “turning purple.”<\/p>\n

\"TheVerandaChild2.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Venton Blandin, KRIS 6 News<\/p>\n

When police and paramedics arrived, they found Augustine unresponsive and immediately began CPR. As medical staff transferred him to a gurney, they noticed fresh bruising on his lower abdomen.<\/p>\n

Lopez told police he had given the children a bath and put Augustine on the bed while he laid on the floor. He said he discovered Augustine pale and unresponsive 20 minutes later when he went to prepare food.<\/p>\n

However, the police investigation revealed inconsistencies in his story. The bathtub appeared dry and unused, and officers discovered a clump of fresh hair in the sink.<\/p>\n

Augustine died from his injuries.<\/p>\n

For the latest local news updates, click here<\/a>, or download the KRIS 6 News App.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas \u2014 A 22-year-old man was sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156,3370],"class_list":{"0":"post-116090","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-corpus-christi","8":"tag-corpus-christi","9":"tag-corpus-christi-headlines","10":"tag-corpus-christi-news","11":"tag-southside-corpus-christi"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}