SAN BENITO — A baby who was found unresponsive in a San Benito home last week died over the weekend after spending several days on life support, police said.
The infant’s teenage aunt, who was arrested last week on charges of injury to a child, could face further charges in light of the child’s death, police said.
Police arrested Ada Marlene Rodriguez, 17, after her 4-month-old niece was rushed to Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen last week when the infant’s mother found the child lying facedown in a baby carrier inside the home, unresponsive and not breathing. The child’s mother had told officers that she left her baby, Kimberly Nicolas, with Rodriguez earlier that morning.
San Benito police Lt. Martin Morales called the incident “suspicious” and questioned why the infant would have been turned face-down in the baby carrier.
After several days in intensive care, Kimberly died Sunday afternoon, Morales said. In light of the baby’s death, detectives are continuing to investigate and are working to determine whether charges against Rodriguez should be upgraded.
The preliminary investigation indicates the aunt was responsible for the infant’s death, Morales said.
“There are some facts that are coming out that are swaying things toward the 17-year-old being responsible,” he said Tuesday.
“They had an autopsy yesterday, so we’re still following up on it and we’re going to have to wait until we gather more facts,” Morales said. “Right now we’re just tightening up the case.”
Given the outcome of the investigation so far, detectives will likely send their findings to the Cameron County District Attorney’s Office with a request that additional charges be filed, Morales said.
“It would be a DA case, so we would have to submit our case with our findings to the DA’s office and request to have them look at it and see if there should be upgraded charges,” he said.
Cameron County Jail records show Rodriguez is being held there, with her bail set at $100,000, and that she has been identified as an undocumented immigrant.
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Michael Barajas is a reporter for the Valley Morning Star in Harlingen.