GRAND RAPIDS TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A Gaines Township man will face trial for child abuse and murder in the death of his girlfriend’s four-year-old son.
Sonja Hernandez shared this photo of her son, Giovanni Mejias, and her boyfriend, Elis Ortiz with FOX 17 and said Ortiz “is the best father I’ve ever met in my life.”
Elis Nelson Ortiz-Nieves was bound over for trial after a preliminary hearing Tuesday.
Testimony Tuesday showed there were seven kids in the single-wide mobile home on the day that Giovanni Mejias died in June. Ortiz maintained his innocence when he was arrested and the boy’s mother, Sonja Hernandez had told FOX 17 in June that, “[Ortiz] is the best father I’ve ever met in my life. I would never choose a man over my kids; he’s not a bad person. All [Ortiz] did was try to save our son.”
In testimony Tuesday, Hernandez said that Ortiz tried to perform CPR on the boy.
Meijas died from injuries to his abdomen.
A trial date for Ortiz has not yet been determined.
