District Attorney: Massachusetts father accused of intentionally burning his 2-year-old child

BOSTON – A Chelsea man is being held without bail after being arraigned this morning in Suffolk Superior court on a dozen indictments related to separate violent assaults of two young children, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden announced.  

19-year-old Kener Bautista-Zepeda is charged with one count of assault and battery, two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a child under 14, three counts of assault and battery on a child with substantial injury, four counts of reckless endangerment of a child, and two counts of strangulation or suffocation.

Judge Catherine Ham ordered Bautista-Zepeda held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing on May 28. A grand jury indicted Bautista-Zepeda earlier this week.

Assistant District Attorney Allyson Portney said that on March 12, 2025, Chelsea police officers spoke with the mother of a child victim who said that the evening prior, her boyfriend, Bautista-Zepeda, had pushed her and punched her. During the assault their two-year-old child began to cry.  Bautista-Zepeda used a cigarette lighter to burn the child on his upper back. The lighter left a burn mark about the size of a nickel, Portney said.

Portney said that on April 5, 2026, Revere police responded to Boston Medical Center to investigate a physical assault on a second child. Officers spoke with the mother of the three-year-old, who said that Bautista-Zepeda regularly cared for her child. She said that several weeks earlier she had noticed burn marks on her child’s arm that appeared to have been caused by a heated fork. She installed a camera in her child’s bedroom. On April 3 at approximately 11:00 a.m., the camera recorded Bautista-Zepeda violently assaulting the child.

“The recording captures the child walking toward Bautista-Zepeda with his arms outstretched as if to be picked up. Bautista-Zepeda then lifts the child with both hands above his own head and forcefully throws the child down onto the bed. The child immediately begins to cry in pain. Bautista-Zepeda then strikes the child in the abdomen with a closed fist three times. Bautista-Zepeda then climbs over the child and places both hands over the child’s mouth and nose, bearing his weight down onto the child through his arms and holding the child down by the neck. The child is seen on the video struggling to breathe for approximately nineteen seconds as Bautista-Zepeda held his hands over the child’s mouth and nose,” Portney said.

When the child’s mother confronted Bautista-Zepeda he fled the state and turned off his cell phone, Portney said. Authorities located and arrested Bautista-Zepeda in Loudoun County, Virginia earlier this month.

While the victims and witnesses of any crime should call 911 in an emergency, there are additional resources available to report suspected crimes against children. In Suffolk County, survivors of child abuse and exploitation and their non-offending caretakers can receive comprehensive services at the Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk County. Additionally, the CAC has a specialized program, Support to End Exploitation Now (SEEN) that specifically works with and advocates for youth affected by trafficking and exploitation. The CAC can be reached at 617-779-2146.

If parents would like help navigating online risks and how to discuss them with children and teens, District Attorney Hayden offers the Stop Block and Talk internet safety training program for caregivers and professionals. Information on the program and helpful resources can be found at www.suffolkdistrictattorney.com/stop-block-and-talk.

Anyone who believes that a child in Massachusetts may be the victim of abuse can call the Department of Children and Families’ Child at Risk Hotline at 1-800-792-5200. Those concerned that a child is being exploited online may report a Cybertip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST or www.cybertipline.com.

 All charged individuals are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.