The suspect arrested for killing three generations of one family in Modesto, California, is an illegal immigrant who was deported three times and released a year ago after a DUI charge.
California’s controversial state sanctuary law prevented federal authorities from taking him into custody and has come under fire once again after the gruesome slayings, according to The California Post.
Joaquin Escoto, 28, a Mexican national born in Jalisco, is accused of fatally stabbing 23-year-old Fabiola Gonzalez-Nunez, 54-year-old Maria Sylvia Nunez-Villalobos and a 2-week-old infant, Mateo Gonzalez.
BABY KILLER: Joaquin Escoto Vazquez, criminal illegal alien from Mexico, has been charged with homicide and cruelty toward child after he fatally STABBED a 2-week-old baby, the baby’s mother, and the baby’s grandmother.@ICEgov had placed a detainer on him after he was arrested… pic.twitter.com/oEBwDkR7vO
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) June 3, 2026
On Friday, Modesto police confirmed Gonzalez-Nunez was the mother of the infant who was killed, and Nunez-Villalobos was her mother and the infant’s grandmother. Escoto and Gonzalez-Nunez reportedly have a 3-year-old child together who was found uninjured inside the residence.
Escoto was deported from the U.S. three times and arrested for driving under the influence once before he was arrested again in June 2025 for another DUI, a senior law enforcement official told The Post.
Escoto was booked into the Stanislaus County Jail on three counts of murder and other charges. Various local reports failed to mention his immigration status and referred to him as a “California man.”
Police responded to a call around 9:20 a.m. Thursday, May 28, for a reported disturbance when they discovered the grisly scene. The two women were pronounced dead at the scene and the baby died at the hospital, Modesto Police Department shared in a news release on Facebook.
“The loss of three lives, including that of an infant child, is a heartbreaking tragedy,” Modesto police shared. “While a suspect is now in custody, detectives continue their investigation as the victims’ families and loved ones face an unimaginable loss.”
In an updated release news release, investigators said Escoto is believed to have lived in the home with the victims, is the father of a 3-year-old child found uninjured, and was in a relationship with Gonzalez-Nunez, the mother of both children. The exact nature of their relationship remains unclear, police said.
Marisa Jimenez, a relative, established a GoFundMe to help the family cover funeral costs and called it an “unimaginable tragedy.” She described Nunez-Villalobos as “a cherished grandmother who loved her family deeply” and said Gonzalez-Nunez was “a devoted mother whose love for her children was endless.”
“The devastating circumstances surrounding this tragedy have left our family shattered,” Jimenez wrote. “In a single moment, generations of love, memories, and dreams for the future were taken from us.”
Escoto fled the scene before officers arrived but was found hiding in a nearby home later on Thursday, police said. A nearby elementary school was placed on lockdown while police searched for him. Video posted on the Stockton Chronicle TikTok page showed Escoto being taken into custody without incident.
“This is a tragedy. Words cannot express how terrible this incident is,” Lt. Eric Schuller with the Modesto Police Department said per KCRA 3 News.
Following his arrest, Escoto was booked into the Stanislaus County Jail on three counts of murder, special circumstance enhancements, using a deadly weapon, and an outstanding Modesto Police Department warrant related to a prior DUI case.
The California Post reported that Escoto was arrested for DUI in June 2025 in San Joaquin County. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials requested to be notified of his release from jail so they could deport him again, a senior law enforcement official told The Post.
Instead, San Joaquin law enforcement officials failed to notify the feds, and Escoto was released.
“Safe to say, California law prohibited the jail from complying,” the official, who shared police documents that substantiated his claims, told The Post.
California’s sanctuary law, passed in 2017, bars police from asking about immigration status, detaining individuals solely for ICE or sharing information with immigration authorities, with some exceptions for certain criminal convictions.
The California Post ran the story on its May 31st cover with the headline “Sanctuary Slaughter.” The Editorial Board wrote an editorial on Sunday regarding the state’s sanctuary laws, saying the “madness must end” and the family’s murders were “entirely avoidable.”
“Newsom’s insane position ignores the fact that people who commit violent crimes have often committed other crimes before,” the board wrote. “Not everyone who has a DUI becomes a murderer, of course. But if someone has already broken the law (four times) to enter the country illegally, and they commit another crime (twice), that ought to be a big enough red flag.”
Republican Gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton said incumbent Gov. Gavin Newsom has “blood on his hands.”
“These Democrats lecture us about ‘their values’ and how ‘compassionate’ they are while their sick sanctuary extremism sets monsters like this free to murder and terrorize our communities,” Hilton told The Post. “Enough is enough: this insanity must end, and it will on Day One when I am governor.”
