Boy of six 'hid under the bed' and watched his father beat his mother to death, court hears

From the Newshound archive · first published 10 October 2026.

A six-year-old boy told police his "daddy got mad" before he crawled under the bed while Roy Anthony Lopez, 37, allegedly punched Jasmyne Garcia, 34, repeatedly in the face at their California home on 3 October. Garcia, a mother of three, lost consciousness several times during the attack and died in hospital the following Saturday morning. Lopez has admitted killing his wife after she succumbed to her injuries. The couple's teenage son came home to find his mother awake but unable to speak, her face so swollen she was "unrecognisable."

The eldest son told detectives Lopez "grabbed him by the neck and slammed his head against the bed multiple times" before he escaped.