A Battle Ground man suspected of killing his girlfriend’s 3-year-old son Monday night allegedly beat and stabbed the boy to death after the child started crying over a movie that he didn’t want to watch, according to court records.

The boy, identified in court records as Jose Castillo-Cisneros, but who went by Pepe, later died of his injuries at an area hospital. Police arrested Ricardo Gutierrez at the scene.

Gutierrez, 39, made his first court appearance Tuesday morning in Clark County Superior Court on suspicion of first-degree murder. Judge Daniel Stahnke set his bail at $1.5 million.

Gutierrez lived at the Battle Ground residence and was in a relationship with the victim’s mother but was not the boy’s father, Battle Ground Police Department spokeswoman Bonnie Gilberti said. Gutierrez had lived at the residence for only a couple of months, court records say.

Pepe had autism, according to a GoFundMe page set up by his aunt, Brenda Cisneros Al Faraj.