Man sentenced in beating death of 2-year-old Fairbury boy

Jake Gonzalez was sentenced Thursday to 70 to 80 years in prison in the February 2021 death of Hollen Siedschlag and for shooting a man a year earlier.

FAIRBURY, Neb. (AP) — A 19-year-old Fairbury man has been sentenced in the beating death of a 2-year-old boy and for a separate shooting.

Jake Gonzalez was sentenced Thursday to 70 to 80 years in prison in the February 2021 death of Hollen Siedschlag and for shooting a man a year earlier. The boy’s mother found him barely breathing in a closet at the apartment she shared with Gonzalez.

Prosecutors said he threatened to hurt the woman’s daughter if if she called for help. She was able to get help the next day but the boy died from liver failure.

At the time, Gonzalez was already charged with shooting a man in 2020.