Uraquio Agustin Arredondo. (Grant County Sheriff’s Office.)
A 29-year-old man in southwest Kentucky will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars after being convicted of brutally killing his girlfriend’s 3-year-old child. Grant County District Court Judge Clinton B. Peterson ordered Uraquio Agustin Arredondo on Tuesday to serve a sentence of life in prison in the death of young Carlos Angel Valenzuela III, authorities announced.
The convicted murderer will not have the possibility of parole for the first 25 years of his sentence.
Arredondo pleaded not guilty in February 2019 to one count each of first-degree murder in the commission of a felony and felony child abuse for torture or cruelly beating a child under age 18, court records show. After choosing to have his case adjudicated in a bench trial, Judge Peterson found Arredondo guilty on both counts.
In addition to the life sentence for murder, Peterson also sentenced Arredondo to 110 months in a Kansas Department of Corrections facility on the child abuse charge, with the sentences to be served consecutively. Should he ever be released from detention, Arredondo will be required to spend the remainder of his life subject to post-release supervision.
Arredondo, who is also known as “Rocky,” was initially taken into custody at approximately 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 24, 2020 at his home located in the 900 block of S. Cheyenne in Ulysses. The arrest was the result of a yearlong investigation into the circumstances of Carlos’ death undertaken by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) and the Ulysses Police Department (UPD), according to a KBI press release.
Following his arrest, investigators confirmed that Arredondo had been “in a relationship” with Carlos’ mother at the time the child sustained his fatal injuries. According to a report from The Ulysses News, Arredondo, who previously lived in Texas, had been living in Kansas with Carlos’ mother for approximately three years.
UPD officers and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel responded to a 911 call at Carlos’ home on Feb. 26, 2019, regarding a report of an unresponsive child, authorities said. Upon arriving at the scene, medics transported the child to Bob Wilson Memorial Hospital for treatment. Due to the severity of his condition, doctors transferred Carlos to a hospital in Denver, Colorado, for more specialized treatment. However, the boy succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead on Feb. 27 of that year.
Arredondo was processed at the Grant County Jail where he was held on $500,000 bond until his trial.
During a hearing seeking to have Arredondo’s bond reduced, Assistant Attorney General Shannon Rush reportedly told the court that Carlos “was beaten badly” to argue that Arredondo presented a “substantial risk for public safety.” She also noted that he had a lengthy criminal history, which “showed that he is just getting more aggressive.”
Records show that in 2017, Arredondo pleaded guilty to one count each of battery on a law enforcement officer involving physical contact and interfering with a law enforcement officer in the service or execution of a warrant. He also pleaded guilty to attempted aggravated battery in September 2014.
[image via Grant County Sheriff’s Office]