Baby girl dies from abuse, investigators say

Saturday, February 6, 2021
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- The mother of a 13-month-old child who died Friday has been charged in relation to the death, and her boyfriend was also charged, authorities said.

The baby girl, identified as Fernanda Morales, was brought into an emergency care center in west Harris County on Thursday night where her mother and the boyfriend claimed she had fallen from a rocking horse and became lethargic, according to the Harris County Sheriff's Office. Medical personnel at the center said the baby had multiple blunt force injuries that were not consistent with the couple's claim, investigators said.

The child was flown to Texas Children's Hospital in the Texas Medical Center, where she died. Preliminary autopsy results confirmed what medical personnel found when the child was first brought in, according to a statement from the sheriff's office.

The child's mother, Mercy Morales, 22, and her boyfriend, Victor Almanza, 18, were taken to jail on charges of injury to a child.

Morales is being held on a $100,000 bond. Bond information for Almanza was not immediately available.

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