Toddler Beaten to Death, Peninsula Man Charged With Murder: Prosecutors

REDWOOD CITY, CA – An East Palo Alto man charged with the murder of his girlfriend's 2-year-old daughter in November pleaded not guilty on Thursday, according to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

Adair Jeru Enriquez Zevallos, 25, entered the plea to murder and assault on a child causing death in a Redwood City courtroom on Thursday afternoon.

Zevallos was arrested after police were called to an apartment at 320 E. O'Keefe St. in East Palo Alto on Nov. 27 on reports that a toddler was having trouble breathing.

The girl was taken to Stanford Hospital but pronounced there a short time later. Her cause of death was not immediately apparent, but an autopsy revealed she had been beaten to death, prosecutors said.

Zevallos, the live-in boyfriend of the child's mother, was arrested.

He remains in jail without bail and is scheduled to return to court for a preliminary hearing on May 3.

– By Bay City News Service / Image via Shutterstock