Charges: Blaine man fatally beat girlfriend's toddler, fled state with her 5-year-old girl

A man suspected of kidnapping his girlfriend's 5-year-old daughter after fatally beating her 2-year-old son in their Blaine home has been charged with murder and awaits extradition from Missouri.

Nelson G. Soto-Lopez, 24, of Blaine, was charged in Anoka County District Court Wednesday with second-degree murder in the death of Drake Damian Oliva.

The charges say Soto-Lopez's cellphone contained three photos of Drake taken about 2 a.m. Tuesday. The child's eyes were closed, and there were bruises on his face.

An autopsy also revealed skull fractures, bleeding on the brain and other wounds.

"This innocent little boy died a violent death," said Anoka County Attorney Tony Palumbo. "It is our responsibility to see justice done on his behalf."

Soto-Lopez fled the state in a cab with his girlfriend's daughter Tuesday morning and was arrested during a traffic stop in Carthage, Mo., early Wednesday.

The girl, Cristal, was with him and unharmed.

According to the criminal complaints:

Police arrived Tuesday morning at Blaine Medical Center and heard varying accounts from Aguilera-Bustillo about how Drake was injured, including that a man she knew for a few days was playing with the boy and dropped him on his head.

Within hours, she acknowledged that she was actually speaking of Soto-Lopez but said her account of what happened was still true.

A police search of their home in the 1500 block of 87th Avenue NE. turned up vomit near the bathtub, a stethoscope, a nebulizer and rubbing alcohol. Aguilera-Bustillo said she used rubbing alcohol and cold water to try reviving Drake.

She eventually told police Soto-Lopez took the crying boy to a bedroom and she could hear him being hit with a belt. She said he had hit Drake with a belt at least twice before.

She said Drake then vomited on Soto-Lopez and sometime that morning stopped breathing.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482