The case of a 3-month-old Hanford infant who died last week at Children's Hospital Central California is now being investigated as a homicide, Hanford Police Chief Carlos Mestas announced during a Tuesday afternoon press conference.

"We are asking anyone who has had contact with this child from the time they were born to shortly thereafter who has information to contact us," Mestas said. "Quite frankly, anyone who has had contact with the child at all we would like to speak to."

On June 8, Kings County Sheriff's deputies and Hanford police officers were alerted by a family member to a case of child abuse occurring in the 10900 block of Beverly Drive. When officers arrived, it was to find then-4-week-old infant Victor Gonzalez suffering from what appeared to be shaken baby syndrome.

Later medical reports indicated that the baby suffered from massive catastrophic injuries to his brain, as well as at least two broken ribs some time prior to the blunt force trauma to the head.

"In my 20 years here with Hanford PD, I've never seen a child abuse case like this," said Lt. Greg Freiner, who was present at the press conference. "You see injuries, sure, but I've never seen one that ended in a death like this."

Deputy Coroner Tom Edmonds announced after the child's autopsy late Tuesday afternoon that Gonzalez died from anoxic encephalopathy -- a failure of oxygen being delivered to the brain, which causes brain dysfunction.

It was also determined that this condition developed over the course of the two months Gonzalez spent at Children's Hospital on life support. According to the initial autopsy, this condition was a direct result of a traumatic brain injury that was caused by blunt force trauma to the head.

"We are going to perform additional tests and leave no stone unturned," Edmonds said. "It is still under investigation at this time. However, our doctors feel pretty confident that this was the cause of death."

When Gonzalez was taken off life support on Aug. 14, he died the following day.

"We believe there are people in that home that would like to talk with us, as the first call alerting us was made by a family member," Mestas said. "We feel there is information out there. Now, we have a pretty good knowledge about what might have happened, but we need further information from not just family members, but anyone that may have witnessed something."

Police confirmed that when a search was conducted at the home, both the mother and father were present, and are considered "at least suspicious to the point where we are conducting an active homicide investigation," Mestas said.

The names of the family members involved in the case were not made public by the investigating officers, citing that this is an active criminal investigation. There have been no arrests made in this case as of this morning.

Anyone with information pertaining to this case is urged to contact Investigator Bryan Toppan at 585-2540.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2425.

(Aug. 20, 2008)