It is another verse of the same song that seems to be playing everywhere. The twenty year old mother of a fourteen month old little girl went to work and left the child with her twenty-one year old boy friend who lived with them. When she came back to the couple’s apartment from her job, she discovered that the child was unconscious. She summoned help in the apartment complex and someone administered CPR to the child. It was too late.
The child was dead when they arrived at a local hospital. Upon examining the baby, medical personnel noticed unusual swelling and contusions on her face and body. It did not take long to determine that the child did not die of natural causes. It has been ruled that she died from receiving severe blows to her body.
The man has been charged with murder and the woman has been charged with filing a report that was false. Apparently, her account of what happened prior to the child’s death was inaccurate. Authorities have stated that more serious charges may be filed against the mother.
What kind of man would administer a beating to a baby? What kind of woman thinks that having a man around is more important than her child’s safety? What kind of woman would make false statements to get the man who murdered her child out of trouble?
This case disturbs me for reasons beyond the obvious. This occurred in the small town that I live in. We are close to Houston, but the community definitely has a small town atmosphere. I drive by the apartment complex where these events occurred several times a day. When I read about crimes like this one, I always assume that it happened in a crime-ridden, drug-infested area of an inner city. This horrible event happened very close to home.
I spent one summer while I was in law school working in a prison. I know what I am about to say as a fact. Most of the men who are in prison suffered physical abuse during their childhood. Child beaters are not well thought of among the population. If the young man is convicted, he will have a very rough stay in the penitentiary.