A Texas mom pleaded guilty to capital murder in the death of her 7-year-old bedridden daughter whom she allegedly left home alone with younger siblings to go partying more than two years ago.
Lauren Kay Dean pleaded guilty to murder on Wednesday and was sentenced to life in prison in connection to the death of her 7-year-old daughter, Jordynn Barrera, KTRK reported.
Police in Bay City, located about 80 miles southwest of Houston, responded to conduct a welfare check at the family’s apartment at approximately 2:36 p.m. on Jan. 31, 2020.
The complaint says the then-26-year-old Dean had returned home by then and invited law enforcement inside to show that her children were OK. But upon entering the apartment, officers located a deceased girl.
Two other siblings, a 5-year-old and a 3-month-old, were also living at the residence and removed from the home. Dean was initially booked into Matagorda County Jail on three separate, second-degree felony charges of the abandonment and endangerment of a child, placing them in imminent danger of bodily injury. The mother was later charged with capital murder of a person under the age of 10.
KTRK reported that Barrera, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome and cerebral palsy and was non-communicative, required a feeding tube and round-the-clock care.
Prosecutors said the girl died because her mother left her home to go partying. The Bay City Tribune reported that Dean pleaded guilty to avoid trial and the possibility of the death penalty.
Investigators said Dean allowed an officer to come in and showed him that two of her kids, aged 3 months and 5 years at the time, were fine.
However, Jordynn was found dead.
Dean was arrested and booked into the Matagorda County Jail on three second-degree felony charges: abandonment, endangering a child and imminent danger bodily injury.
Dean pleaded guilty to capital murder of a person under the age of 10 and three counts of child abandonment Wednesday as part of a bargain to avoid the death penalty and to avoid a jury trial.
In other news, a Bay City mother recently received probation for whipping her son with a belt in a downtown park.
On Sept. 22, Tiffany M. Kuhn, 42, was sentenced to eight months of probation and ordered to pay $355 in court costs and fines, MLive reported.
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