Main: Stephanie Aviles appearing in court in July 2025 (KWCH). Inset: Jacob Aviles (GoFundMe).
A 30-year-old Kansas woman is facing a life sentence after being convicted of murdering her 2-year-old son, who died from severe beatings. Sedgwick County District Court Judge Eric Williams sentenced Stephanie Aviles to serve between 25 years and life following her conviction for first-degree murder in the 2019 death of her young son, Jacob Aviles, according to court documents reviewed by Law&Crime.
Besides the murder conviction, Aviles was found guilty of child abuse and aggravated child endangerment, which added another 41 months to her sentence, to be served consecutively. If released on parole, she will also face a three-year probation period.
Her then-boyfriend, Bernardo Gonzalez-Mejia, was also implicated in Jacob’s death and is awaiting trial on murder and other charges later this year.
As outlined in a news release by the Wichita Police Department, authorities were called to a residence on West Munnell Avenue on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019, for a 2-year-old boy who was unresponsive. At the scene, officers, along with firefighters and medical responders, attempted life-saving efforts on the child, Jacob, but he was pronounced dead due to his injuries.
Investigators noted extensive bruising on Jacob, which led to the arrest of both Aviles and Gonzalez-Mejia at the time, according to the police.
The autopsy revealed Jacob had contusions on his head, arms, legs, abdomen, and back, along with internal abdominal bleeding and multiple lacerations to the mesentery, the tissue connecting organs to the body wall, as Wichita ABC affiliate KAKE reported. The death was deemed a homicide caused by blunt force trauma.
Court documents from Wichita NBC affiliate KSN revealed additional details about the circumstances of Jacob’s death.
According to the report, Aviles had gone out with her daughter, leaving Jacob in the care of Gonzalez-Mejia. While Aviles was out, Gonzalez-Mejia called her and told her that the boy had fainted and was now unconscious. Gonzalez-Mejia reportedly said that Jacob was beginning to turn yellow and, despite removing food from his mouth, the boy was still unresponsive. Aviles then called 911 and headed home.
By the time she returned to the house, medical personnel were already working on the boy.
Aviles reportedly claimed that neither she nor Gonzalez-Mejia ever struck the children. She noted that Jacob often suffered injuries when left alone with Gonzalez-Mejia, but claimed such injuries came with explanations. This was despite two injuries to the boy’s genitals that required hospitalization.
“Bernardo would explain it away,” she reportedly told police.
Gonzalez-Mejia initially denied ever striking the children, but later admitted to using a belt to spank Jacob over his diaper the previous evening because he wasn’t eating, KSN reported.
Prosecutors at Aviles’ trial reportedly argued that Gonzalez-Mejia regularly abused the children and that Aviles was aware that such abuse was taking place, but continued leaving him in charge of the kids.
Gonzalez-Mejia’s trial is set to begin on Dec. 8. He is facing charges of murder, child abuse, and child endangerment.
