Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that an Inwood man was indicted on murder charges for physically abusing his 2-month-old daughter causing her to hemorrhage and die in March 2025.
Marlon Rabanales Pretzantzin, 20, was arraigned today before Judge Robert Schwartz on a grand jury indictment charge of Murder in the Second Degree (an A-I felony). The defendant remains remanded. He is due back in court on May 6, 2025. If convicted, Rabanales Pretzantzin faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
“This defendant, tired of his 2-month-old daughter’s crying, allegedly beat and shook her so violently that he caused severe hemorrhaging and dislocated the vertebrae in the child’s neck, killing her,” said DA Donnelly. “Recognizing that his daughter was unresponsive after the attack, the defendant asked a neighbor to call emergency services and allegedly told police the child had rolled from his arms and accidently fell to the floor. Little Liseyda’s injuries, however, told a different tragic and cruel story, and Marlon Rabanales Pretzantzin will now be prosecuted and held accountable for his revolting violence.”
“Parenting can become overwhelming at times,” continued DA Donnelly. “I urge anyone who feels themselves losing control when dealing with their child to stop, put the child down safely in a crib, and leave the room until they calm down. Using rough treatment or violence towards an infant is never an option.”
DA Donnelly said that, according to the indictment, on March 7, 2025, at approximately 11:00 a.m., at a residence on Maple Road in Inwood, the defendant, alone at home with his 14-month-old son and 2-month-old daughter, Liseyda Rabanales-Barrios, allegedly slapped the infant in the face, punched the child in the stomach repeatedly, and picked her up and shook her violently.
The defendant also allegedly dropped the child from a standing position onto a bed and pressed his body weight into the child, pushing her down.
After the child became unresponsive, the defendant took her to a neighboring apartment.
The neighbor called 911 and emergency services responded to the residence.
The child was taken to St. John’s Episcopal Hospital and later to Cohen Children’s Medical Center where she was pronounced deceased.
The child suffered contusions to the head, several rib fractures, severe hemorrhaging in the neck area, and a dislocated C5 and C6 vertebrae.
The defendant was arrested on March 12, 2025, by members of the Nassau County Police Department.
The NCDA thanks the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) and Babies and Toddlers Task Force Director Leigh Bishop for their assistance in this prosecution.
The case is being prosecuted by Deputy Bureau Chief Daryl Levy of the Homicide Bureau under the supervision of Bureau Chief Jared Rosenblatt and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Litigation Division Kevin Higgins. The defendant is represented by Mindy Plotkin, Esq.
The charges are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless found guilty.