The Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office is pursuing the death penalty against the Susquehanna Township man they say beat his girlfriend’s 4-month-old baby to death, according to court documents filed Friday.

“ I hate seeing her everyday ,” Jose Melendez-Padilla, 24, wrote in since-deleted text messages to Layla Souders, mother of Ioni Souders, before he was accused of killing the girl.

Since his arrest, prosecutors discovered photos of Melendez-Padilla’s genitals in the baby’s mouth saved on his phone, they said, and have filed new charges to reflect that.

See Full Page