Dad sentenced to 60 years in prison for beating 12-year-old son to death with baseball bat after hearing voices
07/07/2026 1:44 pm PDT
BRANFORD, Conn. (TCN) -- A father who beat his 12-year-old son to death with a baseball bat and attempted to kill his teenage daughter has been sentenced to 60 years in prison.
Police responded to the home of then-52-year-old Anthony Esposito Jr. on May 1, 2025, after getting a report that someone had been killed. Responding officers found the body of a 12-year-old boy, also named Anthony Esposito. He was pronounced dead from head trauma.
His father was arrested during a traffic stop and told authorities he had heard his mother’s voice in his head telling him, “Baseball bat, baseball bat.” He beat his son to death before going to pick up his 16-year-old daughter. When she got home and asked where her brother was, he pushed her down the stairs.
On April 27, Esposito pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder. He was sentenced on July 6 to 60 years in prison — 40 for the murder of his son, and 20 for the attempted murder of his daughter, according to NBC Connecticut. The sentences are to be served consecutively.
Of the sentencing, New Haven Judicial District State’s Attorney John P. Doyle, Jr. said, “Few tragedies are more devastating than the loss of a child.”
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