How Could You? Hall of Shame-13-Year-Old Boy case-Child Death

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Drums, Pennsylvania, foster father Cesar Delgadillo, 39, was arrested for criminal homicide, endangering the welfare of children and tampering with physical evidence for the killing of his foster son ,13, on August 5, 2025.

Virginia Delgadillo awoke on August 4 “on her way to the boy’s basement bedroom, the worried mother encountered her husband, Cesar Delgadillo, the boy’s adoptive father.

“I’m sorry,” he told his wife, according to an arrest affidavit.

Virginia Delgadillo found her son badly bloodied and alive, but unresponsive.”

***

Cesar “was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Daniel O’Donnell and committed to the Luzerne County Correctional Facility without bail pending further proceedings.

The arrest affidavit that Corrado and Santos wrote relays a series of brutal assaults that began Sunday, lasted well into the night Monday morning and ended with the boy’s death shortly after dawn.

State troopers who arrived about 6:25 a.m. found blood everywhere — across the living room and kitchen floors, on a kitchen counter, on a basement door, on the floor and wall of the victim’s bedroom, around a bathroom tub.

“The victim’s pillow and the top of his bed around the pillow had large red stains consistent with blood,” Santos and Corrado wrote in the arrest affidavit.

In the bathroom, they found blood-stained clothes with holes consistent with cuts on the victim’s body.

They smelled bleach.

They found the boy with “sharp puncture marks to his hands,” cuts and bruises on both hands and “loop-shaped” marks on his back and side, according to the affidavit.

Virginia Delgadillo told police she and Cesar Delgadillo have a biological son and five foster children who live with them. She said the biological son and one of the foster children “led Cesar to believe that the victim was sexually abusing them,” according to the affidavit.

Cesar Delgadillo took the boy to the garage and whipped his back 10 to 15 times with an electrical cord, Virginia Delgadillo told police, according to the affidavit.

She said Cesar Delgadillo drank alcohol through the evening. She went to bed but was awakened by her oldest daughter, who reported “something wrong with the victim.”

She went to the boy’s room, encountered an apologetic Cesar Delgadillo and found the boy wearing only underwear but with numerous injuries, “including a laceration down the center of his chest.”

She told police about video cameras that recorded the assaults.

In several separate attacks early Monday morning, video shows Delgadillo punching the boy in the face, jabbing a stick in his mouth and hitting him multiple times with the same stick. Large amounts of blood visibly spatter on the floor, according to the affidavit.

“Some of the children who resided in the residence were observed actively cleaning blood from the floor,” Santos and Corrado wrote.

Delgadillo’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 14 at 9:30 a.m.”

Police: Father brutally murdered adopted 13-year-old son in Luzerne County
[WVIA 8/5/25 by Borys Krawczeniuk]

“The family’s five foster children ranged from 5 to 16 years old, according to WVIA. The outlet also reported that the four living foster children are now in state custody as Cesar and Virginia await court hearings later this month.”

Father Allegedly Kills 13-Year-Old Foster Son by Shoving Back Scratcher Down Throat as Surveillance Cameras Rolled
[People 8/11/25 by Sean Neumann]

“Speaking on condition of anonymity because of the nature of the case, two neighbors said the six children, who were homeschooled, were “backward” and “timid.”

“His wife, Virginia Delgadillo. 34, is charged with endangering the welfare of children, corruption of minors and tampering with evidence.”

“The neighbors said only the boys would play outside, but they never saw the girls. The children were always in long sleeves and pants, the neighbors said.

“Children and Youth let them down. On Tuesday, Children and Youth showed up in the driveway and didn’t know the incident had happened,” the neighbor said.

On Tuesday, Luzerne County Manager Romilda Crocamo said the children were never under the supervision of Children and Youth before the killing.”[Wha?]

Upscale neighbors knew little about family in homicide/abuse case
[Standard Speaker 8/7/25 by James Esposito]

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