An illegal alien from Mexico has been charged after stabbing two women and an infant to death in Modesto, California, after the state of California released him back into the community following four different arrests for driving under the influence.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) previously requested an immigration detainer following his most recent arrest in June 2025, but California refused to cooperate, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced.
Now, he faces felony charges of homicide and cruelty toward a child after the fatal stabbings.
Fabiola Gonzalez-Nunez, 23, and Maria Sylvia Nunez-Villalobos, 54, were pronounced dead at the scene. Gonzalez-Nunez’s infant, Mateo Gonzalez, died at the hospital.
Police believe the 28-year-old, Joaquin Escoto Vazquez, was in a relationship and may share a child with the mother of the murdered infant, 23-year-old Fabiola Gonzalez-Nunez.
Vasquez was found hiding in a nearby residence after fleeing the scene.
More from KCRA:
DHS says he was deported by the first Trump Administration after illegally entering the country in 2018 but reentered at an unknown time, likely under Puppet Biden.
The Gateway Pundit previously reported that Vazquez was deported as many as three times before murdering the three victims, in addition to his multiple arrests in California.
Illegal Deported THREE Times Allegedly Brutally Murders a Young Mother, a Loving Grandmother and a Two-Week Old Baby
The Department of Homeland Security released photos of the victims:
DHS said in a press release,
California’s failure to honor ICE detainers has resulted in the release of 4,561 criminal illegal aliens since January 20. The crimes of these aliens include 31 homicides, 661 assaults, 574 burglaries, 184 robberies, 1,489 dangerous drugs offenses, 379 weapons offenses, and 234 sexual predatory offenses.
There are currently 33,179 aliens in the custody of a California jurisdiction with active detainers. The crimes of these aliens include 399 homicides, 3,313 assaults, 3,171 burglaries, 1,011 robberies, 8,380 dangerous drugs offenses, 1,984 weapons offenses, and 1,293 sexual predatory offenses.
More from Fox’s Bill Melugin:
ICYMI: A previously deported Mexican illegal alien with four prior DUI arrests has been charged with a triple murder in Modesto, CA after he allegedly stabbed to death a two-week-old baby, the baby’s mom, and the baby’s grandma. DHS tells @FoxNews that when Joaquin Escoto was arrested for his latest DUI in June 2025, ICE sent a request to the San Joaquin County Jail to be notified if he were to be released, and DHS provided us the request they sent over. Escoto was still released without any heads up to ICE.
San Joaquin County Sheriff Pat Withrow told media outlets that Escsoto was arrested for that DUI at 1am, and he was released at 6am. He says the jail didn’t get a fax from ICE requesting notification of his release until 9am.
“We did not do anything wrong here,” Withrow said. “Their hold request came after he was already gone. It wasn’t even a hold. It was just a request to notify them when he was going to be released. He was already gone.”
However, under California’s sanctuary laws, DUI is not a serious enough offense to allow cooperation with ICE, so even if the ICE request would have come in sooner, it’s unlikely ICE’s request would have been honored by San Joaquin County.
DHS statement to FOX:
“ICE lodged an arrest detainer the same day this criminal illegal alien was arrested for driving under the influence. By the way, that was the same day he was released by sanctuary politicians.
In the sheriff’s own words, he “probably would not” have honored the detainer because it was “just a DUI.” They knowingly set this violent criminal loose, and he slaughtered a two-week-old baby in cold blood, along with the infant’s mother and grandmother.
California’s sanctuary politicians MUST STOP this deadly game. They CHOOSE every single day to release criminal illegal aliens back into our communities, directly endangering American families and creating more innocent victims.”
ICYMI: A previously deported Mexican illegal alien with four prior DUI arrests has been charged with a triple murder in Modesto, CA after he allegedly stabbed to death a two-week-old baby, the baby’s mom, and the baby’s grandma. DHS tells @FoxNews that when Joaquin Escoto was… pic.twitter.com/DsuMUgcs8D
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) June 5, 2026
The post HORROR: Previously Deported Illegal Alien Charged with Triple Murder After Stabbing 2-Week Old Baby, Mother, and Grandmother – Released from Jail FOUR TIMES in California! appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.