Two Union County Parents Indicted For Murder Of 2-Year-Old Daughter

Two parents are accused of killing their 2-year-old daughter by beating her in their Elizabeth home in February. 

According to the Union County Prosecutor's Office: 

A Union County grand jury has returned indictments against an Elizabeth mother and father accused of fatally beating their young daughter earlier this year, acting Union County Prosecutor Grace H. Park announced Saturday.

Jorge Orozco, 30, and Raquel Ramirez, 30, were indicted Friday on murder charges and endangering the welfare of a child in connection with the death of 2-year-old Dayanna Orozco, according to Union County Assistant Prosecutor Albert Cernadas Jr., who is prosecuting the case.

It was shortly before 8 p.m. on February 2, 2014 when first responders rushed to an apartment on the 200 block of Westfield Avenue in Elizabeth to find the toddler unresponsive, Cernadas said. 

The young victim was pronounced dead at the scene, and an autopsy performed by the Union County Medical Examiner’s Office listed the girl’s manner of death as a homicide and the cause of death as blunt-force trauma.

An intensive joint investigation by the Elizabeth Police Department and the Union County Homicide Task Force followed. Ramirez was arrested during the days following Dayanna Orozco’s death and initially was charged with aggravated assault before the offense was upgraded to murder, and Orozco was arrested and charged with murder in late May, with both defendants accused of causing the injuries that led to the death of their daughter. 

These criminal charges are mere accusations. Each defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.