A woman’s live-in boyfriend has been charged with inflicting neck and head injuries that resulted in the death of a 22-month-old little girl.

The mother told authorities that the defendant wanted her to stand by him through the criminal proceedings, but she said she had also been physically abused by him.

Dilworth, Minnesota resident Raul Perez, 24, was charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the August 31 incident that caused the death of Ariel Reyes.

It was not long after Ariel’s death that her mother told authorities that she had experienced several months of physical abuse at the hands of Perez, according to the criminal complaint. She said the abuse included him beating her and lifting her from the floor by her hair. She says that Perez also burned her with a lighter.

When being questioned by the police, Perez denied striking or shaking Ariel and said that he had never harmed any of his three sons, according to the complaint.

The criminal complaint says that on August 29, just before noon, paramedics responded to a call to go to the home in Ada, Minnesota where they saw Perez trying to revive Ariel through mouth-to-mouth. She did not respond and died 48 hours later at a hospital in Fargo. It was then that the medical examiner found head and other injuries.

When the incident allegedly occurred, Perez was watching the little girl and her 5-year-old brother while their mother went to the grocery store and stopped at a gas station.

After paying for gas, the mother saw Perez running down the street, holding the 5-year-old and saying that Ariel was not breathing and that an ambulance was on its way.

A doctor noted that there were many injuries to the little girl, including forehead, jaw, shoulder, and thigh bruises. There was also bruising at the base of her spine and she was diagnosed with a number of brain injuries, including bleeding in her eye.

At the hospital, the mother said that Perez said he did not want to go to prison because that would mean he would have to leave his three boys. This is when he allegedly asked her to not turn her back on him.

Perez told police that Ariel had said something to him that made no sense, so he picked her up to get her to stand up and she fell to the floor motionless, which is when he then tried resuscitating her.

If you are the parent of a child that has suffered a serious personal injury, help is available. Contact a Minneapolis personal injury attorney from TSR Injury Law for a free, no obligation consultation. Ph: (612) TSR-TIME.