Inset, left to right: Victoria Moreno (Chicago Police Department) and Josiah Bell Brown (GoFundMe). Background: The Navy Pier in Illinois, where Moreno killed 3-year-old Josiah (Google Maps).
A 38-year-old woman in Illinois will spend decades behind bars for killing her 3-year-old nephew, taking the toddler to Chicago's Navy Pier and shoving him into Lake Michigan where she — and many witnesses — watched him drown.
Cook County Judge Thomas Byrne on Thursday ordered Victoria Moreno to serve 40 years in a state correctional facility for the 2022 slaying of Josiah Bell Brown, court records show.
Byrne handed down the sentence after Moreno reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.
As Law&Crime previously reported, prosecutors initially charged Moreno with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated battery of a child younger than 13 resulting in permanent disability after Josiah was pulled from the water in critical condition, but upgraded the charges following his death.
Police said surveillance video showed Moreno pushing the boy into Lake Michigan near Navy Pier. She then remained at the scene without trying to save him as the child struggled in the water.
Witnesses and emergency personnel ultimately pulled Josiah from the lake. He was taken to Lurie Children's Hospital in extremely critical condition. He went into cardiac arrest and died several days later, on Sept. 25, 2022.
Earlier that day, Josiah was left in the care of his grandmother. When the grandmother went upstairs to change, Moreno took the boy and left in his mother's vehicle.
Moreno later told police she had taken Josiah to Navy Pier to "go on the rides." When officers first questioned her after the boy went into the water, however, she claimed she was merely a witness and did not know him. She eventually acknowledged that Josiah was her nephew.
People at the lakefront also witnessed Moreno's apparent lack of response as Josiah remained in the water.
"I will never forget seeing his face as he slipped under the surface," one witness told authorities, adding, "It was absolutely horrible."
Questions about Moreno's fitness to stand trial subsequently delayed her case. She was found fit in February 2024, but later received additional psychological evaluations. Earlier this month, she was again found fit to stand trial while taking medication, according to a report from local ABC affiliate WLS.
Her attorneys have said Moreno has been diagnosed with depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.
Follow Law&Crime:
Comments