Inset: Ashley Rivera (Hidalgo County Jail). Background: The 8100 block of North FM 88 in Weslaco, Texas, where Rivera”s 1-year-old child died after being left unattended in a vehicle (Google Maps).
A Texas mother is behind bars after her 1-year-old died when a car seat strap became wrapped around the child’s neck while alone in a Ford Fusion on Halloween night.
Ashley Jasmin Rivera, 26, is facing a charge of injury to a child causing death, jail records say. According to a press release from the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office obtained by local outlets, deputies responded to a call shortly before 9 p.m. on Oct. 31 about an unresponsive infant in the 8100 block of North FM 88 in rural Weslaco in southeast Texas, not far from the Mexico border.
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When deputies arrived, they found the 1-year-old not breathing. Paramedics rushed the 1-year-old to the hospital where doctors pronounced the child dead.
“The child’s car seat was found tipped forward behind the driver’s seat, with the car seat strap around the child’s neck,” the release reportedly said.
Rivera reportedly told investigators that she and her four children arrived at the location. The 1-year-old was sleeping so she left the child in the car while Rivera and the other three kids went inside. Roughly 20 or 30 minutes later, a witness said he went to the car and found the child unresponsive.
An autopsy conducted a couple of days later determined the child died of strangulation.
Details such as where the mother and other children were going when she left the 1-year-old behind were not released. Cops say the investigation remains ongoing.
Cops arrested Rivera and took her to the Hidalgo County Jail where she is being held on a $750,000 bond.
