Quest for answers in toddler's violent death

TURLOCK -- Investigators and co-workers struggled to answer why a 27-year-old man with no criminal history or signs of mental illness would savagely beat his 25-month-old son to death the night before Father's Day.

With hollow eyes and a calm voice, Sergio Casian Aguiar of Turlock only stopped kicking his child when a Modesto police officer shot him in the forehead, killing the man where he stood Saturday night, authorities said.

The boy, also named Sergio, was pronounced dead at Emanuel Medical Center in Turlock.

Aguiar worked at a FoodMaxx store in Turlock and recently had separated from his wife, Frances Lilian Casian, a kindergarten teacher at El Capitan Elementary in Delhi. Casian was in Southern California when the brutal attack unfolded on a dark stretch of West Bradbury Road, 15 miles south of Modesto. She was away for the weekend, authorities said Tuesday.

Nothing, Casian told detectives, foretold the tragic events.

"Everything is normal, normal, normal, then the incident, then the beating. He just snapped," said sheriff's deputy Royjindar Singh. "There's no reason why someone would do this. It doesn't make sense."

Aguiar had moved to Turlock legally from Mexico, Singh said, but when he immigrated remains unclear. His only addresses in the United States are listed in Turlock: a trailer he shared with Casian on South First Street, Casian's apartment in the middle of town and her parents' home near Fulkerth Road. Detectives have contacted Aguiar's family in Mexico, who will travel to California this week to talk with investigators and make funeral arrangements, Singh said.

Authorities are awaiting DNA testing to verify the father-son-mother relationship and toxicology results to determine if Aguiar was on drugs.

FoodMaxx employees have spent the last few days in shock and counseling services have been made available, a spokesperson said.

Delhi schools Superintendent Bill Baltazar said a memorial fund has been created for Casian. Donations can be made at the Hinton Avenue campus or mailed to the school district with "Frances Casian" in the memo or subject line. The address is Delhi Unified School District, 9716 Hinton Ave., Delhi 95315. For more information, call 656-2000. "Our thoughts go out to Frances," Baltazar said.

On the cracked and bloodstained piece of country road, a memorial of flowers, crosses, teddy bears and candles continued to grow Tuesday. A simple message was scrawled on a glass jar, filled with wilting pink flowers: "We are so sorry we weren't there to help you baby. Rest in peace."

The Delhi Unified School District has set up a fund for Frances Lilian Casian, the mother and El Capitan Elementary kindergarten teacher whose 25-month-old son was killed Saturday night in an attack by the child's father on West Bradbury Road in rural Stanislaus County. Superintendent Bill Baltazar said Bee staff writer Michael R. Shea can be reached at mshea@modbee.com or 578-2391.