L.A. County sued over alleged child abuse that killed 1-year-old

The mother of Tilly Servin, an infant who prosecutors believe was tortured to death in Long Beach last year, is suing Los Angeles County’s child protection agency for leaving her daughter in the custody of the child’s father, who had previously been sentenced to four years in prison for child abuse.

In a lawsuit filed Feb. 19, Alexis Servin claims that the county Department of Children and Family Services should have known the toddler’s father, Alfredo Muñoz Jr., and stepmother, Kelly Muñoz, presented an “extreme and foreseeable danger.” The couple were charged with felony abuse of two children in November 2021.

Alfredo, 41, and Kelly Muñoz, 34, were arrested on suspicion of murder and torture in November after Tilly was rushed to the hospital with a severe brain injury. Both have pleaded not guilty to charges of felony child abuse.

Alfredo Muñoz initially said he tripped over a baby gate while holding Tilly, according to an autopsy report from the L.A. County medical examiner.

Tilly died Nov. 10. The autopsy found a “constellation of injuries that cannot be explained by a single low-level or short-distance accidental fall,” including blunt head trauma and a severe spinal cord injury.

At 14 months old, Tilly had “repeated inflicted trauma,” the medical examiner found.

Tilly was the latest in a long line of children who have died while under the supervision of the Department of Children and Family Services, or DCFS.

The agency said in a statement it was “deeply saddened to learn of the tragedy involving 14-month-old Tilly S.” but said state law prohibits officials from commenting further.

At a news conference Wednesday in downtown L.A., Servin remembered her daughter as a bubbly toddler with piercing blue eyes who wriggled with delight at the sight of Elmo.

Servin, who lost custody of her daughter when the infant was about 5 months old, said she started to believe Tilly was in danger after she was sent a photo shortly before she died.

“I had a weird feeling,” Servin said. “We got one picture of her on her birthday, Aug. 29. She looked very sucked up and skinny and just small — and she had a bruise on her forehead.”

During a December court hearing, L.A. County Deputy Dist. Atty. Brian Rosenberg told a judge that Tilly was repeatedly deprived of food and had suffered multiple broken bones — allegedly at the hands of her father and stepmother.

“This little girl had a broken tibia, not once but twice, a broken foot, two broken ribs,” Rosenberg said, according to a transcript of the court hearing.

Rosenberg said Tilly ultimately died of a skull fracture.

The couple also took videos of the alleged torment, Rosenberg said. The prosecutor accused Muñoz of gagging the young girl with a spoonful of cinnamon, according to the transcript, and starving her in sickening fashion, leaving the toddler “emaciated,” according to the transcript.

“There’s even video of Alfredo holding food in his hands. I can’t tell if it’s a sandwich, chicken fingers, whatever it is, [he is] gleefully eating it, pointing it to her as she tried to grab it,” Rosenberg said, according to the transcript.

Servin said Tilly was placed with the couple after DCFS removed her from her care following an alleged positive fentanyl test. She denied taking the test and said she was unclear why she lost custody.

Tilly briefly lived with her grandfather, Servin said, before DCFS placed her with Alfredo Muñoz, despite the 2021 child abuse case.

In that case, police found methamphetamines and pill bottles within reach of two children inside the Muñozes’ residence on Pine Avenue in Long Beach, according to a pre-trial investigative report. Police recovered two firearms and roughly two grams of meth during a search, records show. Neither child was physically injured, records show. Alfredo and Kelly Muñoz pleaded no contest to the felony child abuse charges.

Tilly’s placement came despite warnings from a DCFS dependency investigator, according to a March 5 email sent to Servin. The investigator said he was concerned about Alfredo Muñoz’s history of drug use, which he believed made Muñoz “incapable of providing regular care of the child,” according to the email referenced in the lawsuit.

“The father’s history of substance abuse endangers the child’s physical health and safety and places the child at risk of serious physical harm,” the investigator wrote.

Alfredo Muñoz has multiple prior arrests for burglary, assault, vehicle theft and weapons and drug offenses as well as resisting arrest, according to court records. He was charged with attempted murder as a juvenile and tried as an adult, though probation reports did not show how that case was resolved. He was last released from state prison in 2023, according to a spokesperson for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

“The father should have been disqualified from taking in Tilly Servin because he has a rap sheet longer than a novel,” said Brian Claypool, an attorney representing Servin. “This is the guy that L.A. County DCFS said, ‘You can take care of a 14-month-old child.’”

The lawsuit alleges DCFS was well aware of the couple’s “violent history” as the agency had opened a case related to the earlier charges against them.

Claypool has represented multiple families of children who were killed while they were under DCFS supervision, including the infamous cases of Anthony Avalos and Noah Cuatro, two young boys who were tortured by their parents. Those cases settled for $32 million and $20 million, respectively.

“They catastrophically failed in this case, and they’re going to pay the price,” Claypool said of DCFS. “This is as bad as it gets.”