Baby Aaden’s father pleads not guilty in his death

MIDDLETOWN–A father who has been charged with murdering his baby pleaded not guilty on Thursday.

Tony Moreno, 21, of Middletown, is accused of throwing his son Aaden off the Arrigoni Bridge in Middletown on July 5 and then jumping off himself in an apparent suicide attempt. Aaden was just 7 months old.

Aaden’s body was found two days later down the Connecticut River in East Haddam.

For more on the death of baby Aaden and the case against his father, click here.

On July 8 he was arrested and charged with murder and murder of a victim under the age of 16. He was held on $2 million bond and remains in custody.

On Thursday, he pleaded not guilty.

Documents showed Moreno and Aaden’s mother had been going through a custody dispute, and just days before the tragedy, a judge denied a permanent restraining order against Moreno. Previously, on June 25, before Aaden died, Moreno was arrested and charged with two counts of violating the temporary restraining order that was in place.

Chilling text messages sent in the minutes before Aaden died show the concern that Adrianne Oyola felt in the period leading up to her baby’s death.