HOUSTON – Just before a 2-year-old Humble girl died in a hot car in September, she took both photos and video of the terrifying ordeal, court records reveal.
The child's parents are accused of leaving the child in the car overnight after coming home from a party.
Olga Esquivel and Angel Esquivel-Blanco, both 25, are charged with abandoning a child in connection with the Sept. 16 death of Alicia Esquivel. Olga Esquivel is also charged with tampering with a corpse.
Two photos and one video were found on the cellphone, which was left in the car with the child.
The "complainant's right inner thigh, a portion of her diaper, and part of her brown sandal," were captured in one of the photos, according to a criminal charging document.
A Harris County sheriffs Office investigator reported, "(We) listened to the video... (and) could hear what appeared to be a female child's voice in discomfort," the document states.
Harris County prosecutors said Olga Esquivel originally told investigators that her daughter was sleeping with her and her husband when the child died. Prosecutors said the story changed after investigators determined that the child had been alive in the car as late as 10 a.m. the day she died.
Prosecutors said Olga Esquivel later told detectives that she and her husband had returned home from a party about midnight before Alicia Esquivel died. Prosecutors said Olga Esquivel helped her intoxicated husband into the house and the couple fell asleep. Prosecutors said Olga Esquivel reported that she woke about noon the next day and realized that Alicia Esquivel was still in the car.
Investigators said Olga Esquivel reported splashing water on Alicia and performing CPR, but it was too late. She said she waited an hour to call 911 because her cellphone battery was dead, investigators said.
Olga Esquivel was being held in the Harris County Jail on $40,000 bond. Esquivel-Blanco, a citizen of Mexico, was released from jail on $10,000 bond.
If convicted, the mother and father face up to 20 years in prison.