On April 24 at about 11 a.m., 20-year-old Christian Perez of Hayward was caring for his girlfriend's baby at a home in the 2700 block of Melbourne Avenue when he intentionally submerged the baby in a bathtub full of hot water, police said.
Perez called his sister and brother-in-law, Patricia Perez and Jose Gamez, for advice and the three adults went to a pharmacy for burn ointment, then drove to a home across town and put the baby to bed, police said.
When the baby began having seizures two hours after being dunked in the hot water, the family called 911, police said.
Medical experts determined the baby would have been in "unimaginable agony and obvious distress" in the hour following the burning bath before going into a state of shock, police said.
The baby was found to have burns covering about 70 percent of his body and transported to Children's Hospital Oakland via an ambulance. The Hayward Police Department responded to investigate the burns.
The boy remained in critical condition at Shriners Hospital in Sacramento until he succumbed to his injuries just after noon Tuesday, police said.
Perez was initially arrested on charges of felony child abuse, felony child endangerment, mayhem and torture, police said. He remains in custody and now faces murder charges, according to police.
Patricia Perez and Jose Gamez were charged with felony child endangerment as well and have since been released on bail, police said.
