After giving birth to a baby boy in a shower and then throwing him away, a mother from Texas is currently serving time in prison, according to the authorities. The incident occurred over a year ago.
It was on Facebook that Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez made the announcement of the arrest on Monday evening. In the case of Catherine Nicole Innes, who is 22 years old, she is accused of tampering with evidence, specifically a human corpse. An arrest affidavit based on probable cause states that deputies were dispatched to the 13000 block of Fountain Crest Court in Houston on August 14, 2024, after workers on a garbage truck discovered the boy’s rotting and damaged remains in the compactor.
At the same time that the deputies were conducting their investigation, Innes approached them and admitted that she was the mother of the child. She stated that she had started feeling “severe stomach cramps” three days earlier and that she had “entered the shower and ran cold water on herself in an attempt to relieve the discomfort.” It was then that Innes “gave birth while inside the shower,” as stated in the affidavit.
The boy, who was named Jesus Martinez in the affidavit, was alive at the time of his birth and “began to make some noise,” according to the lawsuit written by the plaintiff. Police reported that Innes claimed that she then passed out while she was in the shower. She stated that the boy was not breathing when she awoke from her sleep.
According to the complaint, she stated that she “became frightened” and then placed the boy inside a garbage bag along with the night gown that she was wearing and the towels that she used to clean up the blood that she had on her body when she was in the shower. Subsequently, Innes deposited the youngster along with the other objects into a garbage can located in the rear of the house. After three days, the rubbish was collected in accordance with the appointed time.
Later on, Innes disclosed to the detectives that she resides with her boyfriend and their son, who is three years old. “She did not believe it was the right time to have another child,” the affidavit read, despite the fact that she and her partner expressed a desire to have other children.
Following the completion of an autopsy, a medical examiner came to the conclusion that both the cause of death and the method of death were “undetermined.” The ME informed the media that she “could not find a biological reason to explain the child’s death as there were no observable deformities or medical issues for the baby.” According to the affidavit, he might have died as a result of being purposely drowned or suffocated, or he could have died as a result of being placed in the trash bag and dying from the intensity of the July heat.
According to the findings of the medical examiner, the infant might have been able to survive if he had received medical assistance after birth.
Innes was taken into custody by the deputies and sent to the Harris County Jail, where she is currently being held on a bond of $50,000. The next time she is expected to appear in court is on Wednesday. The reasons for the delay in filing charges in the case, which lasted for almost a year, were not immediately evident.
