BLACKFOOT — A Blackfoot man has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for the death of an 18-month-old boy.

Jesus Adan Castillo entered the plea in Bingham County District Court on Wednesday. He will be sentenced on Jan. 22, and faces up to life in prison, according to a news release from the Bingham County prosecutor’s office.

Castillo was charged with the crime for striking the child, Zachary Tendoy, in the abdominal area and causing him to hit his head, according to court records. The child died as a result of his injuries.

East Idaho News reported earlier this year that Tendoy was the son of Castillo’s girlfriend.

Doctors described the attack as “very violent” and compared the child’s injuries to those that someone of his size would sustain in a car crash at 70 miles per hour while only wearing a seat belt across his lap, according to court records.

Earlier this year, Castillo told officers he had been drinking when the incident occurred on March 23, according to court records.

Tendoy had been asleep, but woke up and crawled out of his playpen. Castillo heard a thud and went into the bedroom where he found the child and gave him a bottle.

Later in the hallway, the child was whiny so Castillo told officers that he pushed him down into the door jam of the bathroom. When Tendoy got up and followed him, Castillo heel kicked him in the stomach area, according to court records. The child fell again and hit the wall and trim of the doorway.

Castillo said he felt bad and gave the child a vanilla wafer before carrying him to his playpen, but he later picked him back up and shook him several times after the child continued to cry, according to court records. He then put Tendoy in the playpen again.

Tendoy reportedly crawled back out of the playpen and fell on the floor, according to court records. Castillo went to check on the child when he heard a thud, and he found him lying on the floor.

Castillo picked the child up, woke up his girlfriend, who had gone to sleep earlier, and called 911, according to court records.

Castillo said he started chest compressions and then his girlfriend took over until emergency officials arrived.

Tendoy was transported to Bingham Memorial Hospital in Blackfoot and then to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls. He later died.