Texas Baby Dies in Car After Being Stuffed in Backpack; Man Charged With Murder
A Lubbock, Texas, man was charged with capital murder on Wednesday morning in the death of a baby girl who died after being placed in a backpack and left in a car for hours, authorities said.
Trevor Rowe, 27, was arrested Wednesday morning, according to KTLA sister station KLBK in Lubbock.
An arrest warrant said Rowe killed Marion Jester-Montoya, less than 1 year old, by “confining her in a backpack, inside a vehicle, for an extended period.”
Rowe — who is not the father of the child but was dating her mother — took Marion to his job site at 130th and Upland Avenue and then left her in a backpack on the floorboard of a car, according to the warrant.
At some point, Rowe discovered that she got out of the backpack and put her back in it, the document stated.
By lunchtime, he checked on her and found she was “lightly crying but breathing.” He then went to a fast-food drive thru and also to two stores.
After lunch, Rowe placed the backpack into the trunk of the car with Marion inside, the warrant said. Just before 5:00 p.m., he checked on her, and she was not breathing.
He called 911 and began administering CPR.
“He knew that placing a person into a trunk was dangerous to human life,” the warrant said. “Rowe advised that placing someone into a backpack was even more dangerous.”
His bail has been set at $2 million.
Photo Credit: ktla.com