The mother of the male suspect says the 23-month-old child was cold and could barely open her eyes when she picked her up. Now she tells us more about what happened inside the Motel 6 at 820 South I-45 in Conroe.
"I truly believe in my heart that she wouldn't have made it," Lisa Martinez said.
Martinez couldn't hold back the tears as she told us about what she saw when she entered into the Motel 6 room on Monday. Her son, 19-year-old Gregory Garcia, opened the door after calling for her to help.
"I asked, 'Where's the baby?' He showed me towards the bathroom, and I found the baby in the bathtub laying down," Martinez said.
The baby is a 23-month old girl. She was in bad shape, barely conscious.
"When I flipped her over and that's when I saw the blow to her head. She was all wet. I hold her against me,I covered her, and the saddest part was when her little arms kept tightening up every time I would move," Martinez said.
Martinez called 911. Police say the baby girl's mother, 19-year-old Michelle Smith, was not at the motel, but was staying there with Garcia.
"He just said that Michelle was bathing the baby and left. He didn't know where she went," Martinez said.
When Smith returned to the hotel, police say she wouldn't identify herself as the child's mother and denied knowing about the injuries. Smith was arrested for child endangerment, along with Garcia.
"I just want who ever did that to her, they need to pay, regardless of who it is," Martinez said.
Police say this child is stable. Her injuries are non-life threatening. Police say there may be more charges on the way.
We worked on this story with our Houston Community Newspaper partner, The Courier of Montgomery County.
Find Foti on Facebook at ReporterFotiKallergis or on Twitter at @FotiKallergis
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