{"id":43753,"date":"2013-09-30T16:57:25","date_gmt":"2013-09-30T23:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theavtimes.com\/?p=43753"},"modified":"2013-12-17T21:55:41","modified_gmt":"2013-12-18T05:55:41","slug":"palmdale-toddler-beaten-to-death-moms-boyfriend-charged-with-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2013\/09\/30\/palmdale-toddler-beaten-to-death-moms-boyfriend-charged-with-murder\/","title":{"rendered":"Palmdale toddler beaten to death, mom\u2019s boyfriend charged with murder"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Two-year-old<\/a>
Two-year-old Zanai died of severe internal injuries consistent with hard blows to the back causing rib fractures, hemorrhages, a collapsed lung, internal bleeding and a pulverized liver, sheriff’s homicide detectives said. Her mother’s boyfriend is accused of causing the injuries in their Palmdale apartment while mom was at the store.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

PALMDALE \u2013 A 23-year-old man accused of beating to death his girlfriend\u2019s 2-year-old daughter in Palmdale last week has been charged with murder, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Matthew Albert Worthen<\/strong> was charged Monday with one count each of murder and assault on a child causing death for the fatal beating of baby Zanai<\/strong>, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n

The alleged fatal beating occurred on Sunday, Sept. 22 at the couple\u2019s Palmdale apartment in the 200 Block of Avenue R, according to detective Q. Rodriguez of the Sheriff\u2019s Homicide Bureau.<\/p>\n

The child\u2019s mother told detectives she left Zanai alone with Worthen for a few minutes while she went to the store, Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe returns six to seven minutes later and her baby is gasping for air, is groaning as though she was in some sort of shock,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/a>
Matthew Worthen appeared in court Monday but did not enter a plea. (Photo by TONY CHEVAL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He said baby Zanai was \u201cnear death\u201d when Worthen and the child\u2019s mother brought her to Palmdale Regional Medical Center around 9:25 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had severe internal injuries consistent with hard blows to the back causing rib fractures, hemorrhages, a collapsed lung, internal bleeding and a pulverized liver,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

Baby Zanai died about an hour later, Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

Worthen was arrested Thursday, after a coroner\u2019s autopsy report confirmed Zanai\u2019s cause of death.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe coroner said he\u2019s only seen injuries like this in high speed traffic accidents, so you can imagine,\u201d Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The child’s biological father Robert Skinner (shown with Zanai) believes both mother and boyfriend should be charged in his daughter’s death.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The child\u2019s mother has not been arrested or charged in the incident so far. Zanai\u2019s biological father, Robert Skinner, said both mother and boyfriend should be implicated in his daughter\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want him buried under the prison and I think she should be right there with him,\u201d Skinner said.<\/p>\n

Skinner said he has barely slept since the incident. He says he found out about his daughter’s death via Instagram, when a friend posted his daughter\u2019s photo with the caption \u201cRIP\u201d on the night of Sept. 22. Skinner said he began frantically calling his child\u2019s maternal relatives until someone told him to go to Palmdale Regional, where doctors confirmed his worst fears.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m devastated behind this, my whole family is devastated behind this,\u201d Skinner said. \u201cI understand now why half the time she would not let me have my daughter, because she knew my daughter was going to tell me that something was going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friends of the couple said Worthen had abused his girlfriend on several occasions, and baby Zanai was terrified of Worthen. They said Worthen had beaten his girlfriend so severely in July that she had to be hospitalized, and Worthen was jailed on domestic violence charges.<\/p>\n

Rodriguez confirmed that Worthen was arrested for a domestic violence incident in July 2013, and that his girlfriend had filed a restraining order against him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a restraining order, a keep away order, however we believe it expired and we\u2019re looking into that,\u201d Rodriguez said, adding that Worthen had been fired from his job as an Emergency Medical Technician over \u201cdomestic violence issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Skinner said he was in disbelief that his daughter was left alone in Worthen\u2019s care.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow could you leave our daughter with a man who, mind you, has already put his hands on you up and down? Then you have to get a restraining order against him and you\u2019re still dealing with him? That\u2019s crazy!\u201d Skinner said.<\/p>\n

Worthen was expected to be arraigned on the murder charge Monday afternoon at the Antelope Valley courthouse. He made his first court appearance, but did not enter a plea. Instead, the case was continued until October 16, and Worthen was remanded back to custody on $1 million bail.<\/p>\n

If convicted as charged, Worthen faces a maximum sentence of life in state prison. \u00a0 The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff\u2019s Department.<\/p>\n

UPDATED 10\/16\/13<\/span>: Matthew Worthen was scheduled to be arraigned today at the Antelope Valley courthouse, however, the arraignment was delayed until December 4, according to the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office. We will continue to follow this story.<\/strong><\/p>\n

UPDATED 12\/4\/13<\/span>: Matthew Worthen appeared in an Antelope Valley courtroom today, but his arraignment was postponed again — this time until Dec. 17. We will continue to follow this story.<\/strong><\/p>\n

UPDATED 12\/17\/13<\/span>: Matthew Worthen pleaded not guilty to the charges today. Read more here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PALMDALE \u2013 A 23-year-old man accused of beating to death his girlfriend\u2019s 2-year-old daughter in Palmdale last week has been charged with murder, authorities said. Matthew Albert Worthen was charged Monday with one count each of murder and assault on a child causing death for the fatal beating of baby Zanai, according to the Los […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":43778,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[719],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43753"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}