OTTAWA — A Napoleon man who confessed to killing his son 10 years ago pleaded not guilty Wednesday to aggravated murder and other charges that could put him in prison for the rest of his life.
Travis Soto, 30, also was indicted on murder, felonious assault, kidnapping and tampering with evidence. He entered a not guilty plea to all charges Wednesday at his arraignment. He is being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Soto is charged in the 2006 death of his 2-year-old son, Julio Baldazo, who Soto said was killed after he was struck by an all-terrain vehicle. Soto, living in Continental at the time, said he did not see his son when he ran over him after he drove around the corner of a garage and struck him.
The boy lived for another one to two hours after the incident but Soto did not seek medical attention for him, authorities said at the time. Soto pleaded guilty to child endangerment and was sentenced to five years in prison.
Authorities have not given details on Soto’s new version of how his son died.
Since his release from prison, Soto moved to Napoleon. He walked into the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office in late July and requested to speak to an officer to make a murder confession in his son’s death. He told officers he found God and wanted to come clean, Putnam County Sheriff Tim Meyer said.
“He told us he didn’t have religion and now he’s trying to make things right with himself and God. He wanted to get it off his conscience,” Meyer said.
Investigators still have to go back and review all evidence to see if it matches Soto’s new story.
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