Man Sentenced To Life In Prison After Torturing And Killing 5 & 1/2 Week Old Baby
“On July 12, 2024, Kevin Van Streefkerk was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to murdering and torturing his five-and-a-half-week-old daughter.
Much of the baby’s heinous physical abuse was caught on video and, in his confession, Mr. Van Streefkerk described multiple beatings, including the final beating where he, in his own words, “beat the living daylights out of her.”
At the sentencing hearing, Deputy District Attorney Kassie Cardullo described that Mr. Van Streefkere never cried or showed any emotion for his daughter during his multiple interviews.
“The pain that this case caused for everyone who touched it and the family that continues to mourn the life of this sweet, innocent infant, simply pales in comparison to the pain that Alya herself experienced,” said DDA Cardullo.
“She was so tiny, so frail and defenseless. She couldn’t fight back or even tell anyone that she was in pain. It’s incomprehensible.” Judge Mark Ralphs, who presided over the case, described Mr. Van Streefkerk’s crimes as “especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel.”
The case was prosecuted by DDA Cardullo and investigated by the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the District Attorney’s Office. The lead detectives, Mark Hangebrauck and Katie Prescott, worked tirelessly and thoroughly to solve this murder. It cannot be stated enough how exemplary their work was on this case.
Life in prison is an extraordinary sentence, but there is no sentence that could feel like justice in this case.”
