Man accused of killing Fayetteville toddler admits to probation violation

Superior Court Judge Tom Lock immediately activated a previously suspended prison sentence of six to 17 months for Andrew Tyler Tomczak, who was transferred to Central Prison until he is assigned to another state facility.

Tomczak, 21, was convicted in March on a charge of assault by strangulation in connection with an October 2014 incident and was placed on probation. As part of his sentence, he was supposed to notify his probation officer before leaving North Carolina.

He and his fiancee, Vanessa Ariana Sanchez, 20, went to Colorado in April, and Tomczak failed to come back to North Carolina when his probation officer called him there and told him to return.

The couple was arrested in Colorado Springs on May 20, hours after Fayetteville police charged them with first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury in the Jan. 29 death of 18-month-old Violet Sky Cortez.

The toddler was found unresponsive in a bedroom at 528 Lambert St. and was pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy determined she died of "significant closed head injuries" and had extensive bleeding around her brain, and the medical examiner stated in the autopsy report that the injuries were "non-accidental in nature."

Sanchez is still in Colorado, where she is fighting extradition.