Texas man sentenced to life in stomping death of toddler

Publish date: 2024-10-12

A Texas man convicted of beating and stomping his girlfriend's 18-month-old daughter to death then burying her body has been sentenced to life in prison.

A Tarrant County jury sentenced 24-year-old Joshua Beard on Monday. Beard was convicted of murder on Saturday in the 2014 death of Tylea Moore.

Prosecutors say Tylea died of blunt force trauma at the Arlington home Beard shared with the girl's mother, Alexis Botello. 

Joshua Beard, 24 Alexis Botello with daughter Tylea Moore

Monster: Joshua Beard, 24 (left), has been sentenced to life in prison for stomping to death the 18-month-old daughter of his girlfriend, Alexis Botello (pictured right with baby Tylea)

Cover-up: After beating the toddler to death in July 2014, Beard and Botello allegedly buried her beneath a remote bridge 

Cover-up: After beating the toddler to death in July 2014, Beard and Botello allegedly buried her beneath a remote bridge 

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They say an angry Beard at one point threw the child onto a bed with such force that she bounced off and landed on the floor, where he stomped on her stomach until she vomited.

Authorities say Tylea died from her injuries and was buried underneath a rural bridge northwest of Fort Worth.

Botello, 20, awaits trial on charges that include capital murder, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, and injury to a child.

In court on Monday, two ex-girlfriends of Beard's testified that he had abused them, and his jailers told the jury that at no time did he display any remorse for his actions towards Tylea, reported Dallas News.

Botello, 20, awaits trial on charges that include capital murder, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, and injury to a child

Botello, 20, awaits trial on charges that include capital murder, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, and injury to a child

Botello told police after her arrest that Beard was angry at his daughter Beard is pictured in his mugshot

Abusive: Botello told police after her arrest that Beard was angry at his daughter, but that he did not mean to kill her 

Beard and Botello, who was a recent high school graduate had been dating for only a few months. Tylea's father, Chris Moore, is a US Marine who used to attend the same school as Botello.

Botello said on July 4, 2014, she and Beard had been fighting because he had allegedly been yelling at her daughter.

She said when she checked on her daughter the next morning, Tylea was covered in bruises and bite marks and 'looked awful'.

Botello claimed Beard had repeatedly struck the child, despite her attempts to stop him, and stomped on her stomach until she threw up 'green stuff' and eventually stopped breathing. 

The young mother claimed her boyfriend 'didn't mean to do it,' according to police record

Botello allegedly told police that after her daughter died, she and Beard put the little girl's body in the car and drove to a Walmart.

After buying gloves and shovels, they drove to Springtown, dug a small grave beneath a bridge and buried Tylea's body. 

Beard and Botello, who was a recent high school graduate had been dating for only a few months

Beard and Botello, who was a recent high school graduate had been dating for only a few months

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