Texas – A Texas coupIe were taken into custody and charged with capitaI murder in connection with the death of their chiId, Brooklyn. The 22-year-old woman, D. Campes, was taken into custody on Friday at the county jail, her bond set at $300,000. The 38-year-old father, J. Fencher, was arrested the following day and booked into the county jail without bond.
The charges stem from an incident that occurred in May last year at a Texas moteI. Deputies from the Sheriff’s Office responded to a welfare check and found the 4-month-old baby unresponsive inside a dreser dr awer in the couple’s moteI room. The Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death to be suffocation, and classified it a homicide.
During the investigation, Texas authorities learned the couple had been living at the moteI for over a year and allegedly used a drawer as a makeshift sleeping space for the child. According to court records and witness statements, the parents would routinely place her in the drawer and seaI it with towels to stop her from kicking it open. The child’s family member reported hearing that it wasn’t the first time they placed her there.
When law enforcement arrived, the woman told officers she had been asleep, believed the baby was with the father, and woke hours later to find the child missing. The victim’s dad said he had stepped out to go to the store, and upon returning, discovered the drawer was slightly open. He said he attempted CPR on the bed, then placed her back inside the drawer with a blanket.
A moteI employee reportedly took photos of the infant in the drawer and alerted management, who called the police. IIIegal drugs were also found in the room, and the baby’s family member expressed frustration that no charges were filed at the scene, despite toxicology findings.
The case was reopened after follow-up investigation by the Sheriff’s Office Violent Criminal Apprehension Team, along with the Texas Department of Public Safety and the Sheriff’s Office. Investigators cited repeated instances of negligence and abuse leading directly to the child’s death.
The child’s mom reportedly admitted in court that the child had been placed in the drawer on several occasions so the parents could have what the judge described as personal time together.
Both parents are scheduled to appear in court in coming days. The sheriff praised the persistence of investigators in pressing charges more than a year after the tragedy
