Dad gets 15 years for role in murder of baby found in freezer

Antonio Cervantes

The father of a newborn baby who was submerged in water, strangled with a shoestring then left in a freezer in an East Toledo home, was sentenced today to 15 years in prison.

Antonio Cervantes, 19, of 5324 Rector Dr., pleaded guilty last month before Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Myron Duhart to involuntary manslaughter, endangering children, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse for his part in the infant’s January, 2012, death.

The child’s mother, Kenisha Pruitt, 21, of 2631 Scottwood Ave., pleaded guilty to aggravated murder Feb. 22 and was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility after 20 years.

At her sentencing, Pruitt admitted to the court that after giving birth at the Paine Avenue home she shared with Cervantes at the time, she held the baby underwater in the bathtub then tied a shoelace around its neck that Cervantes gave her.

The baby’s tiny corpse was discovered April 13, 2012, in a freezer when the property’s landlord was cleaning the house after the couple moved out.