Boy who lived with father dies after "horrific abuse" (Kansas City, Missouri)

It is is expected that charges against dad REY A. CRUZ SR., who is now charged with assault and child endangerment, will be upgraded now that his 1-year-old son has died. This POS basically tortured this boy over several days--all because Daddy was supposedly "frustrated" over the boy's crying. The mother did not live in the home, as she is in prison for some unspecified crime.

http://www.kansascity.com/2010/05/10/1937431/year-old-boy-who-died-after-horrific.html

Year-old boy who died after horrific abuse is identified
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Kansas City police on Monday identified a 1-year-old boy who died over the weekend after horrific abuse.

Doctors declared Rey A. Cruz Jr. brain dead Friday, and his family donated his organs over the weekend.

Prosecutors on Thursday charged the boy’s father, Rey A. Cruz Sr., 19, with assault and child endangerment. Police are seeking to upgrade the charges in light of the boy’s death.

Investigators said the boy lived with his father and two other relatives. The boy’s mother is in prison, police said, and the father had been moving around.

Police were called to the boy’s home in the 1300 block of Monroe Avenue about 2:35 a.m. Thursday, where they found him struggling to breathe. He had bruises “all over his body,” according to police. The boy had 10 fresh rib fractures, bruises on his genitals and hemorrhaging in his eyes.

Court records said Cruz threw the boy to the floor, slapped his head, hit him in the face and punched him in the abdomen over several days last week because he was frustrated with the boy’s crying.

The boy’s death was the 38th homicide of the year.

Christine Vendel, cvendel@kcstar.com

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