HOLYOKE, Mass. (AP) - A western Massachusetts man has been arrested on a murder charge in connection with the death of his girlfriend’s 19-month-old daughter in Holyoke almost three years ago.
Luis Prosper pleaded not guilty to murder, assault and battery with serious bodily harm and abuse or neglect of a child at his arraignment Wednesday. He was ordered held on $500,000 bail.
He was arrested Tuesday.
The 27-year-old Prosper is charged in connection with the August 2011 death of Jaliyah Silva in her mother’s Holyoke home.
Within the past two weeks, the state medical examiner’s office contacted the Hampden district attorney’s office, which in turn advised Holyoke police that Jaliyah’s death was caused by “shaking injuries of the head and neck. It is unclear why it took nearly three years to bring charges.
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