BARSTOW, Calif. — A 26-year-old father was arrested for murder after his 2-year-old son died in floodwaters in Southern California, police announced Tuesday.
The man was taken into custody Friday and booked into the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department High Desert Detention Center, according to police.
The San Bernardino County DA’s office told Eyewitness News, our sister station in LA, that the father is facing one count of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence and one count of child abuse under circumstances of condition likely to cause great bodily injury or death.
“We also alleged special allegations for willful harm or injury resulting in death,” a spokesperson for the DA’s office said.
The Barstow Police Department said that due to the severity of the incident, its detective division assumed responsibility for the investigation, and that “based on evidence obtained, detectives secured an arrest warrant…”
Last month, 2-year-old Xavier Padilla-Aguilera, who had autism, was found dead after he was swept away by floodwaters while in the car with his father.
A search was underway for a 2-year-old boy who was swept away by flood waters in the Barstow, Calif., area, on Sept. 19, 2025.
As police officers and firefighters were responding to the scene, “it was reported that the occupants had been separated from the vehicle and were continuing to travel north with the floodwaters,” according to Barstow police. “Brandon Aguilera was located on an island that had been created by the floodwaters.”
The boy’s body was found last month following an extensive search.
An arraignment date for the father has not yet been scheduled.
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