Parents arrested after infant is found dead in cooler at Dallas hotel
DALLAS - Dallas police arrested two people after finding their infant child dead in a cooler inside their hotel room.
Felicia Vasquez, 32, and Arturo Espinoza, 37, are charged with tampering with evidence – concealing a human corpse, which is a second-degree felony.
Police said they were contacted by a special Child Protective Services investigator this past Saturday and asked to do a welfare check on a 3-week-old baby.
When the officers arrived at the Days Inn on S. Lancaster Road, they found the baby boy's body inside a cooler in the hotel room.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Vasquez told investigators she found the boy unresponsive after returning from a shower.
When Espinoza returned, he panicked and said if they contacted the authorities their other children would be removed. The couple was under investigation for a September incident with the other children.
The Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office is still working to determine how the baby died.
For now, Vasquez and Espinoza are accused of failing to report the baby’s existence, which is required by law.
Vasquez was arrested Friday and taken to the Dallas County jail. Espinoza was already in jail for an unrelated charge.