COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A South Side man who violently shook his crying infant in 2013 is facing murder charges after the girl died last month.
Jesus Tejeda was alone with his then 3-month-old daughter on Dec. 27, 2013, when the girl stopped moving, Assistant State's Attorney Elena Gottreich said during a bond hearing Thursday.
The girl was brought to UIC Hospital, where she had no reflexes and was diagnosed with new and old subdural brain hematomas and brain swelling, prosecutors said.
Doctors determined that the new injuries were not accidental and had occurred no more than one or two hours before the girl became unresponsive, according to Gottreich.
Tejeda later admitted in a videotaped statement that he shook the baby for several minutes when she wouldn't stop crying. The girl eventually stopped breathing and moving all together, prosecutors said, and Tejeda shook her again to wake her.
Tejeda also admitted to shaking the baby when she cried in the past, Gottreich said.
Tejeda, of the 3700 block of West 58th Street, was charged in 2013 with attempted murder. He posted $50,000, or 10 percent of his $500,000 bail, and has been free on bond awaiting trial.
According to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, 2-year-old Sofia Tejeda died about 8 p.m. July 21 of "complications of blunt force injuries to her head." The case was ruled a homicide.
Prosecutors this week upgraded the charges against Jesus Tejeda, 25, to first-degree murder, and Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil on Thursday set bail at $1 million.
According to his public defender, Tejeda is married and attends college.
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