Temple Police Arrest Man Suspected of Murdering 2-Year-Old Girl
UPDATE: Bell County Jail records indicate Jadin Nunez was booked at 2:55 PM Tuesday. He remained there Monday evening in lieu of $1 million bond. He's charged with Capital Murder of a Person Under the Age of Ten Years of Age.
According to the child's mother, Nunez struck the little girl (identified as Shanna McAlpine) in the stomach at least three times, after which Shanna complained of not being able to breath properly. The girl was pronounced dead shortly after 3:30 AM Sunday. Officials later declared she'd passed away as a result of blunt force trauma to the abdomen.
A GoFundMe account has been started by Shanna's aunt to help her family with funeral expenses.
Temple police have arrested a man suspected of murdering a 2-year-old little girl.
Chris Christoff with Temple Police Department Media Relations reports that 25-year-old Jadin Nunez was taken into custody in Killeen Monday afternoon - a day after investigators believe he fatally injured the child.
According to Christoff, police responded to a medical emergency call from the 800 block of South 11th Street in Temple Sunday, September 22. Whey they arrived, they found the toddler dead. The Temple Criminal Investigations Unit was unable to determine a cause of death at the scene, and Justice of the Peace G.W. Ivey ordered an autopsy.
The next day, investigators alleged that Nunez, who was dating the girl's mother, was responsible for acts of violence against the girl that caused her death. The Bell County District Attorney's Office then issued a warrant for capital murder.
After the warrant was issued, the US Marshal Service Lone Star Fugitive Task Force Waco Division and the Temple Police Department CID and Violent Crimes Enforcement Squad went looking for Nunez. He was arrested at 5:57 PM at the corner of FM 195 and Chaparral Road without incident.
A check of the Bell County Jail inmate roster did not indicate that Nunez had been booked as of late Monday morning. We'll update this post with a mugshot and booking information as it becomes available.