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Inset: Ashley Rivera (Hidalgo County Jail). Background: The 8100 of North FM 88 in Weslaco, Texas, where Rivera”s 1-year-old child died after being left unattended in a vehicle (Google Maps).
At 26, Ashley Jasmin Rivera was initially charged with injury to a child causing death, but her legal situation has since worsened. She now faces additional accusations of criminal negligent homicide and abandoning a child in a manner that endangered the child’s safety. According to KGBT, a local CBS affiliate, these charges were brought against Rivera in December. She was taken into custody at the Hidalgo County Jail last Wednesday and remains there with a $60,000 bond as of Monday afternoon.
The Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office issued a press release, reported by local media, detailing the incident. Deputies were called to the scene shortly before 9 p.m. on October 31, responding to a report of an unresponsive child. The location was on the 8100 block of North FM 88 in Weslaco, a rural area in southeast Texas near the Mexican border.
Upon arrival, deputies discovered the 1-year-old was not breathing. Emergency medical teams transported the child to a hospital, but unfortunately, the doctors could not save the infant’s life, declaring the child deceased upon arrival.
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 few 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.