A 27-year-old woman in Texas has been sentenced to 15 years behind bars for her role in the brutal d3ath of her 5-year-old son, who was abused and tortured by her boyfriend.
Bexar County District Court Judge Velia Meza on Tuesday, August 6, ordered Nickolle Aguilar to serve a sentence of 15 years in a state correctional facility for the slaying of young Domenic Aguilar Acevedo, authorities announced.
Aguilar had initially been charged with child abuse resulting in death before she reached a deal with prosecutors, agreeing to plead guilty to one lesser count of injury to a child resulting in serious bodily injury by omission in the fatal pummeling of her son at the hands of 29-year-old Daniel Garcia.
A jury in May found Garcia guilty of one count of injury to a child resulting in death.
Prosecutors said that without Aguilar’s cooperation, the “state would have been unable to successfully prosecute” Garcia.
During Aguilar’s sentencing hearing, Judge Meza said: “You have earned every single day of the 15 years that you have plea-bargained for.”
As part of her plea agreement, Aguilar was required to testify against Garcia and she was the state’s first witness at his trial.
During her testimony, Aguilar discussed the harrowing final weeks of her son’s life before his death on July 24, 2021.
In court, Aguilar said she and Garcia — both of whom had a young daughter and young son — met online when they lived in Florida in 2020 before eventually moving to Texas together.
Aguilar said that each parent was initially in charge of disciplining their own kids, but when they got to Texas, Aguilar said Garcia began disciplining Dominic, saying she wasn’t doing enough to keep the boy in line.
Asked what Dominic would do that would result in Garcia abusing him, Aguilar explained that it was any number of seemingly minor things.
“He wouldn’t answer right away, wouldn’t keep quiet, not eat his food fast enough … one time he pooped himself,” Aguilar told the court.
Speaking about other incidents in the weeks before Dominic’s death, Aguilar said Garcia once punched the child in the face with so much force it left the boy’s jaw “crooked.”
“He wasn’t answering fast enough or eating fast enough and — I don’t remember exactly what happened, but at some point, Daniel [Garcia] hit [Dominic] in the jaw,” she said. “He punched him in the jaw, like how you sucker punch somebody, with a closed fist.”
The couple and their kids were at an extended stay hotel in San Antonio on July 24, 2022, when Garcia threw Dominic against a wall with so much force that the child “bounced” off a wall and hit the floor. When the boy got up, Aguilar said he threw up a dark substance and was dead within a few hours.
Authorities said surveillance footage from the hotel showed Garcia carrying Dominic’s lifeless body to their car.
Aguilar testified that instead of calling 911, they drove to Colorado where they camped in a remote area before burying Dominic and fleeing to Florida. She later helped authorities locate her son’s body, which was recovered from a ravine near the campsite.
Investigators previously said Aguilar told them she did not stop the abuse because she was “too eager to be in a relationship.”
“A parent’s responsibility is to protect her child, but Domenic’s mother said and did nothing as she watched her child die of abuse at the hands of her boyfriend,” Bexar County Criminal District Attorney Joe Gonzales said in a statement following Tuesday’s proceedings. “Nickolle Aguilar failed her son, but in his memory and in partnership with law enforcement, our office has worked to hold her accountable.”
Daniel Garcia is currently scheduled to appear for his sentencing hearing on Aug. 14. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
