Teen’s father arrested after Walmart employees find baby’s body in restroom trash

On the night of July 14th, a deceased baby girl was found in the restroom trash by employees of Walmart in Kingsville, Texas. Upon further investigation, police learned that the baby’s mother was the victim of sexual assault by her own father.

Key Takeaways:

• A deceased baby was found by an employee in the trash of a Walmart restroom in Kingsville, Texas, on July 14th.

• Upon investigation, police found the mother was a 17-year-old girl, who later informed them that she was raped by her father — who fathered the child — and that he had taken her to Mexico for an abortion, resulting in the deceased baby girl.

• The teen’s father has been arrested and charged with multiple crimes.

• Far too many sexual abusers have used abortion to cover up their crimes, and abortion groups like Planned Parenthood have aided them.

• Both the victims of sexual assault and their children are valuable. Parents in desperate situations can leave their newborns in designated Safe Haven locations with first responders, according to the laws of each individual state.

Details:

According to a statement by Kingsville Police Department, officers found store employees attempting to save the baby’s life. Tragically, the baby girl was transported to Christus Spohn Hospital in Kleberg, where she was pronounced dead. Security camera footage revealed that the child’s mother had entered the restroom that evening and remained there for about 40 minutes before leaving.

The statement by Kingsville PD further noted: 

At 10:53 p.m., a Kleberg County Sheriff’s Deputy located and stopped the vehicle in the WalMart parking lot. A 17-year-old female was identified and transported by EMS to the hospital for medical care.

Her father, Jerry Lee Martinez, 45, of Mathis, Texas, was taken into custody and booked into the Kleberg County Jail. He has been charged with Abandoning/Endangering a Child – Criminal Negligence.

However, those aren’t the only charges for Martinez.

The baby’s 17-year-old mother told police days later that her father had sexually assaulted her multiple times since she was 15, which began with ‘inappropriate touching’ — and when she became pregnant, he physically assaulted her by punching her in the stomach on several occasions in an attempt to cause the death of the baby.

When that failed, he allegedly took her to Mexico for an abortion. 

KIII-TV reported, “She also told them he was the father of her child, and that he had taken her to Mexico to have the baby aborted Monday. The report states that the girl said this is why the baby was stillborn when it was left in the bathroom.”

San Patricio DA says the teen claims Martinez is the father of the baby left at Wal-Mart

Martinez is also charged with tampering with a witness and tampering with evidence.

According to the news outlet, “San Patricio District Attorney Marjorie Silva confirmed to 3NEWS on Friday that Martinez is also charged with sexually assaulting his daughter.” According to reports, Martinez has been placed under house arrest with orders not to contact the teenage victim, any family outside his home, or the witness.

The teen is reportedly in a safe location.

Reality Check:

Tragically, it appears that abortion may have been used in this case in an attempt to cover up the crimes of a sexual abuser.

This is far too common, and abortion organizations — including Planned Parenthood — have been known to do little to aid the victims of abuse, failing to report the crimes despite being mandated reporters any time abuse is suspected. At times, Planned Parenthood has even shown a willingness to aid sex traffickers in continuing to exploit their victims.

Stillbirth may occur if a pregnant woman takes the abortion pill late in pregnancy, or if a preborn child is intentionally injected with a feticide, as in the process of an induction (or induced labor) abortion. Babies may also be born alive if a pregnant woman takes the abortion pill late in pregnancy. And sometimes, if a baby survives abortion, the end result is infanticide.

Abortion Doctors Share How The Most Common Abortion Procedures Take Place

The Big Picture:

Neither the victims of sexual assault nor their babies deserve to be harmed. They are all valuable human beings.

KRIS 6 News reported that Kingsville PD accident investigator, Detective Celinda Tatum, said, “The avenue taken last night wasn’t the correct one, wasn’t a safe one for the mother or the child. We do advise that anytime an incident does occur at any moment, contact police or emergency personnel so that the baby and the mother can get seen medically.”

KRIS added:

Texas has a Safe Haven Law, also known as the “Baby Moses Law,” which allows parents to surrender their newborn to an employee at designated safe places such as hospitals, fire stations, or EMS stations, with no questions asked.

Safe and legal surrender

Sadly, far too many infant abandonment cases continue to occur across the country despite state Safe Haven/Baby Moses laws, which allow for infants to be safely surrendered to designated personnel. The Texas Baby Moses law, in effect since 1999, allows parents to legally and safely leave a baby 60 days or younger to any employee at “any hospital, fire station, emergency medical services (EMS) station in Texas, or placed in a newborn safety device located inside the designated emergency infant care (DEIC) provider facility.”

Earlier this year, Live Action News reported about charges that were dropped against a woman who delivered her baby in the toilet at a Whataburger in Converse. Infants with umbilical cords still attached were found abandoned in November 2024 and earlier this year in San Antonio. Within just a few weeks in 2024, there were four back to back cases of abandoned newborns found in or near dumpsters in the Lubbock, Houston, and Fort Worth areas. 

Parents need to know that they have other options to safely surrender their infants to authorities with no legal repercussions.

More Work To Do

Hearing of the tragic news of the newborn baby’s death in Kingsville, Monica Kelsey, founder of the Safe Haven Baby Boxes, told Live Action News she is “heartbroken over this little one who was not placed in a safe place and ultimately passed away.”

Kelsey added that her organization is “working tirelessly to keep these babies safe all over the country and this reminds us we have much more work to do.” 

In 2023, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 780, allowing for Baby Boxes to be installed in the state. After the bill became law, Lubbock was the first city in the state to open a baby box location — and more are needed across Texas. Recently, Safe Haven Baby Boxes announced a new location coming soon to Tomball, thanks to sponsorship by students at Muskingum University. 

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