The illegal immigrant accused of slaughtering a 2-week-old baby, the child’s mother and grandmother flashed a grin during a California courtroom appearance Monday as devastated relatives of the victims looked on from the gallery.
Joaquin Escoto, 28, entered Stanislaus County Superior Court shackled at the wrists and ankles, wearing an orange-and-white jail uniform and sitting beside his attorney and a Spanish interpreter. But it was his apparent smirk during the proceedings that stood out as family members were still reeling from what prosecutors allege was a vicious triple murder.
Escoto is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 23-year-old Fabiola Gonzalez-Nunez, her newborn son Mateo Gonzalez and 54-year-old Sylvia Nunez-Villalobos. He also faces special-circumstance allegations for multiple victims, a knife enhancement, child abuse resulting in the death of a child under 8 and child endangerment involving the couple’s surviving 3-year-old child.
The hearing lasted only a few minutes, but for relatives of the victims watching from the gallery, the pain remains constant.
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The family says they still do not know what may have motivated the killings and are searching for answers as they try to make sense of the tragedy.
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The deaths have been especially difficult for loved ones because baby Mateo was only 2 weeks old when prosecutors say he was killed alongside his mother and grandmother.
Adding another explosive layer to the case is Escoto’s immigration history.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, Escoto is a Mexican national who illegally entered the United States in 2018 and was deported during the first Trump administration. Federal officials say he later returned to the country illegally and accumulated multiple arrests, including four DUI arrests.
DHS says Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodged a detainer against Escoto following a June 2025 DUI arrest, requesting that local authorities transfer him into federal custody. Instead, according to federal officials, he was released without ICE being notified.
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