Thursday, March 20, 2025
An Inwood man was arrested after allegedly assaulting his two-month-old daughter, who later died from her injuries, Nassau County police said.
Officers responded to a home in Inwood around 10:40 a.m. on March 7 after receiving a report of a choking infant.
Police said the baby, identified as Liseyda Rabanales-Barrios, was taken to a local hospital and later transferred to another facility, where she pronounced dead due to her injuries.
after the subsequent investigation, police determined the infant had been assaulted, leading to her death.
On March 12, police arrested Marlon Rabanales-Pretzantzin, 20, of Inwood. He is charged with second-degree murder and was scheduled to be arraigned on March 13 at First District Court in Hempstead.
Det. Capt. Steve Fitzpatrick, the commanding officer of the Nassau County Homicide Squad, said at Nassau County Police Headquarters in Mineola, that after an interview with Rabanales-Pretzantzin, he admitted what had happened with the baby.
“Last night March, 12, when we interviewed the father, he admitted to us what had happened with the baby, how he abused it physically, how he felt that the child was not his, and how he did not respect of want that child,” Fitzpatrick said. “He hit the child several times around the face and head, and he threw the child on the ground.”
Fitzpatrick reported that another one-year-old boy was removed from the house by the mother, and is currently at a local hospital and being evaluated for injuries.
County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said Rabanales-Pretzantzin is originally from Guatemala, crossed into the United States in 2022 through El Paso, Texas, and was released into the country under the "catch and release" policy.
The catch and release policy is the practice of releasing migrants, while they await hearings in immigration court.
Police ask anyone with information regarding this incident to contact Nassau County Crime Stoppers at 1 (800) 244-8477 or call 911. All calls are confidential.
