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A family member said Victoria Jiminez died yesterday, several days after she was hospitalized with a fractured skull and broken bones at various stages of healing and just weeks after her first birthday.
Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli announced this afternoon that the charges against Jimenez would be upgraded to murder.
Police called to the family’s Fairview apartment on Saturday rushed her unresponsive body to Palisades General Hospital, and she was quickly moved to the trauma center at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center.
(See the original CLIFFVIEW PILOT story: PURE HORROR: Man tries to kill 1 year old)
Andres, 23, and young Victoria had been living with girlfriend Jakeline’s family in Hasbrouck Heights after moving up from Florida shortly after the girl’s birth, Andres said through a translator. Although the child had several babysitters, it was difficult finding one after they moved last week to Fairview.
Family members have taken up his cause, creating two Facebook pages supporting him. However, they have been unable to explain the infant’s death.
“I would like to [say] that Andres Jimenez is an honorable young man, hardworking person, responsible and with full integrity,” a cousin told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “He’s being accuse[d] and charged unfairly.
“He loves Victoria. He won’t even think to do anything harmful to her or to anybody. He took care of her, He gave her his last name, and He took his father [role] very serious and responsibl[y].”
The difficulty with their reasoning is that the evidence was assembled by physicians at St. Joseph’s.
There’s been no word from her mother. However, Andres Jimenez’s friends and loved ones are doing what they can to take his case to the public.
“[His] whole family is in Colombia – Bogota,” the cousin told CLIFFVIEW PILOT. “He doesn´t have anyone near to [rely] on. We have being following his case on [the] internet; because we have called the mother of the child and her family members in New Jersey and they don´t want to answer.
“Jakeline´s parents live in Colombia and we have been trying to contact them, but they don´t want to talk to us,” she added. “We would like to know what really happen[ed] and we need to hear from Jakeline or any of [her] family member[s].”
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE JIMENEZ FAMILY
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