HOUSTON – A woman arrested for neglecting a baby boy to death has had formal charges placed on her.
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Houston police said back in April 2024, Ilana Madrid, 32, who was looking after the 1-year-old, took the baby to the hospital after she noticed he was unresponsive.
According to court records, an autopsy was performed and detailed the shocking way all of this unfolded. In January 2024, Madrid told officers during a visit the baby’s real mother left the child and his brother in her care because she was going out of town. The arrest reports do not reveal anything else about the brother.
Court documents say during the visit to Madrid’s apartment on the southeast side, there was an “overwhelming smell of urine and feces.” Investigators later learned she had several dogs living in her home (along with her family) and the dogs were “allowed to urinate and defecate on ‘puppy pads’ all over the apartment.”
While officers interviewed her, court records revealed the baby’s mother actually got arrested and booked in jail at Val Verde County, Texas. Since then, Madrid said she had not heard from the baby’s mother and tried “to get family to take her children but couldn’t find anyone.”
The 32-year-old told officers she fed the baby when she could but investigators compared his medical records and discovered he was “poorly nourished and poorly hydrated” under her care.
Madrid was arrested on January 31 and faces felony charges of injuring a child on a $250,000 bond.