The 1-year-old was not physically injured, but her presence during the attack led to a separate aggravated child abuse allegation.
MARGATE, Fla. — A 1-year-old girl was lying beside her mother when police say the woman’s brother attacked her repeatedly with a machete inside a Margate bedroom, an allegation that left the mother seriously wounded and placed the child’s presence at the center of one of the criminal charges. Ruben Altidor, 36, was arrested Aug. 3 on allegations of attempted felony murder, aggravated child abuse and a probation violation.
Police said the toddler was not physically injured. Investigators nevertheless reported that she was exposed to the violent incident and was found with her mother’s blood on her after the attack. That distinction helps explain why the case is not limited to the alleged assault on the adult victim. Jail records cited by local news organizations list aggravated child abuse as a separate count against Altidor. The reports reviewed do not allege that he struck the girl with the machete, and they do not identify her by name. Because she is a very young child and a private victim or witness to the alleged incident, her identity has appropriately remained out of the public reporting.
The allegation involving the child begins with the location of the attack. According to the arrest report described by Local 10 News, the adult victim said she had been sleeping when her brother began striking her with a machete. Her daughter was in the same bed. Police said the woman suffered serious injuries while trying to survive and escape. The report quoted her as saying that Altidor paused during the assault and asked, “Oh my God, why aren’t you dead yet?” No motive was identified in the police account, and investigators had not publicly described any dispute immediately preceding the alleged attack.
The mother’s injuries were extensive enough to require hospital treatment. Police described major wounds to her hands and legs, including a deep injury to the back of her right thigh and severe damage to several fingers. The available reporting said some of the hand injuries involved possible or near amputations. Authorities have not released a detailed follow-up account of her medical recovery. The seriousness of those wounds is relevant to the criminal investigation, but the available evidence does not establish what lasting effects, if any, the woman will experience. No later medical prognosis was identified in the reports reviewed.
What happened after the woman got out of the bedroom brought the alleged violence into view of other people and a surveillance camera. Local 10 reported that home-security video captured screams and showed a wounded woman fleeing from a man police identified as Altidor. Another woman could be seen carrying a small child. Investigators said the victim moved outside, reached a nearby home and rang the doorbell before collapsing. A neighbor later described seeing her arrive asking for help. The neighbor’s account concerned the woman’s escape and condition after the alleged attack rather than what happened in the bedroom itself.
When Margate police arrived, officers said they heard a woman screaming from inside or near the residence. She emerged and told them someone was trying to kill her, according to the arrest report. A cousin at the property identified Altidor as the woman’s brother and as the person accused of attacking her. Officers arrested him at the scene. The reports do not describe a prolonged search for a suspect or a pursuit by police. Instead, investigators were able to begin examining the home where the woman said the attack had occurred shortly after she got away.
Inside, officers reported finding evidence that documented a path from the bedroom toward the outside of the residence. Police said there was significant blood in the bedroom and a trail extending into the hallway, near a bathroom door and outside. Investigators also found a machete sheath in the kitchen. A machete with what the arrest report described as apparent red smudges was recovered under a bed in another bedroom. The public accounts reviewed do not include laboratory findings on the weapon, so it has not been publicly established through forensic testing in those reports that the material on it was the victim’s blood.
The aggravated child abuse charge raises a legal issue separate from the alleged attempted killing of the child’s mother. Under Florida law, child abuse can include intentional conduct that inflicts physical or mental injury or an intentional act that could reasonably be expected to cause such injury. The statute sets out more serious circumstances that can qualify as aggravated child abuse. Prosecutors, not the arresting officers alone, will ultimately have to establish how the evidence fits the charge they pursue. The reports reviewed do not provide a later charging document explaining the state’s full legal theory concerning the toddler’s presence in the bed.
That is especially important because police said the child was not physically wounded. An absence of a visible physical injury does not by itself determine whether a child-abuse charge can be sustained under Florida law, but neither does the arrest charge establish guilt. The legal question will turn on the conduct prosecutors allege and the evidence they present. The news reports do not say whether investigators interviewed medical specialists about the child, whether she received a medical examination or whether any court proceeding has addressed the aggravated child abuse count since the initial arrest.
The attempted felony murder charge carries its own distinct elements. Florida’s statute applies to certain intentional acts committed in connection with another felony when those acts could cause death but do not. Jail information identified Altidor’s count specifically as attempted felony murder. Reports that shorten the accusation to attempted murder can obscure that statutory distinction. The available public reporting does not specify which underlying felony prosecutors intend to use in proving the attempted felony murder allegation, nor does it establish whether prosecutors have altered, added or dismissed any charge since the initial booking.
Altidor’s booking information also listed a violation of probation or community control associated with an aggravated battery case. That allegation means his Aug. 3 arrest potentially involves two legal tracks: prosecution of the new accusations and a proceeding concerning whether he violated conditions imposed in an earlier case. The facts of that earlier aggravated battery matter were not detailed in the reliable reports reviewed, so it would be improper to assume it involved the same family, the same home or conduct similar to the new accusations. A probation violation is also an allegation that must be addressed through the court system.
The arrest report leaves another major question unresolved: why police believe the attack occurred. Investigators had not publicly identified a motive in the accounts reviewed. There was no verified report of a financial dispute, ongoing argument or other specific trigger, and the victim’s statement that she was asleep when the attack began provides no explanation of its cause. The lack of a publicly stated motive does not weaken or strengthen the charges by itself, but it limits any responsible account of the events to the evidence and statements that authorities have actually disclosed.
The latest reports following Altidor’s arrest said he was being held without bond at the Broward County Main Jail. The available coverage did not identify a later trial, plea or adjudication, and no public statement from an attorney speaking on his behalf was found in the material reviewed. The case therefore remains an allegation rather than a determination of guilt. At its center are two reported victims with very different outcomes: a mother who suffered severe injuries and her 1-year-old daughter, who police say was not physically hurt despite being beside her when the violence occurred.
Author note: Last updated September 9, 2026.