HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – A woman is facing a felony charge after being accused of leaving her children at home alone without food or diapers last week.
Lily Martinez, 28, is charged with child abandonment. A warrant has been issued for her arrest.
The children -- ages 10, 6 and 2 -- had been left alone at their home in the 21000 block of Brushy Canyon Drive in Houston.
A neighbor reported the incident to authorities when the oldest child knocked on the door asking for food.
That neighbor spoke to KPRC2.
"I cooked them a pizza, a whole large pizza. Gave them all the juice I had (and) they finished it all," said the neighbor, who did not want to be identified.
When deputies arrived, they met with Martinez's mother. She told authorities that one of the children told her that Martinez had not been home since Jan. 24, according to court documents.
Deputies also spoke with Martinez's live-in boyfriend. He told authorities that he left the house on Jan. 25 around 5:30 a.m. for work and he believed that Martinez was at home when he left, according to court documents.
He told deputies that Martinez had been "disappearing" from time to time over the last few weeks, court documents said. He said he didn't know where Martinez was, or why she had been leaving and not coming home recently.
Deputies searched Martinez's residence and found there was no food in the fridge or pantry and all the cupboards in the kitchen were empty, court records said. Feces were found in the hallway and were tracked into a bedroom, according to court documents.
"The little (2-year-old) girl, I had to give her one of my daughter's diapers because it looked like she had been in that diaper at least a day," the neighbor said.
Martinez has a criminal history that includes drug charges and last summer she was convicted of assault of a family member, according to court records.