Dad accused of killing 2-month-old daughter arrested in Texas (San Diego, California)

Now that Dad GABRIEL GAITAN has been found in Texas, he will apparently face murder charges in the 2006 death of his 2-month-old daughter. It sounds like this sicko pup had photographed the dead or dying baby floating in the kitchen sink, and even had written down his fantasies about drowning her. Truly stomach wrenching stuff....

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/oct/20/father-accused-killing-infant-daughter-arrested-te/

Father accused of killing infant arrested in Texas
The former Marine was stationed at Camp Pendleton when the girl died in 2006
By Dana Littlefield

Wednesday, October 20, 2010 at 6:09 p.m.

A father accused in the 2006 death of his 2-month-old daughter was arrested this week in Texas and could be returned to San Diego to face a murder charge.

Gabriel Gaitan, 25, a former Marine who had been stationed at Camp Pendleton, also faces one count of felony child abuse, stemming from the death of Elizabeth Gaitan.

The child’s mother called authorities March 5, 2006, from her Vista home to report that the baby wasn’t breathing. Paramedics arrived and found the married couple trying to administer cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Elizabeth died at a hospital the next morning.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Gaitan told sheriff’s detectives he was bathing his daughter in the kitchen sink, when she became unresponsive. An autopsy showed the infant had several injuries, including broken ribs, some of which were up to two weeks old.

Initially, doctors at the county Medical Examiner’s Office called the baby’s death suspicious, but they could not determine the cause of death. Later, they determined the child had died of blunt force trauma to the torso and an injury to her heart.

Her death was ruled a homicide.

Witnesses told detectives that a camera belonging to Gaitan contained “disturbing” photos of the child floating in the kitchen sink. One witness said Gaitan had read to her a story he had written before his daughter died about a mother and father who drowned their baby in a sink while they were giving her a bath.

Gaitan told police he didn’t do anything that could have caused his daughter’s injuries.

The child’s mother told detectives her husband was “not a good father” to Elizabeth, but she did not think he would hurt the baby intentionally. She described seeing her husband drop to the floor with the baby in his arms the night paramedics were called, and thinking he may have crushed her.

After the couple separated in August 2007 and decided to divorce, the mother told detectives she believed the maneuver was the “ultimate cause of Elizabeth’s death” and that she was always afraid Gaitan would hurt the baby.

Gaitan was arrested in Corpus Christi, Texas. It is not yet clear whether he will fight extradition, which would affect when he could be returned to San Diego to face the charges.