FAITH ESCAMILLA (Hernandez) - 11 Months -(2010) San Antonio TX

Arrested and charged with capital
murder, Silver Starr Hernandez's mother, Elizabeth Carmona, visited her
at the Bexar County Jail on Thursday.


Each time she asked what happened to her 11-month-old
granddaughter, Faith Escamilla, Carmona said her response was the same."She
clams up. She doesn't say anything," said Carmona. She said she got the
same answer from Hernandez when she asked her why Escamilla's sweet
smile she knew and loved appeared twisted in death as they gazed into
the casket."Somebody broke her face. That's why it looks
different on one side than it did on the other," said Carmona.That
someone was her 25-year-old daughter, according to the San Antonio
Police Department arrest warrant affidavit, which states that Hernandez
described to investigators how she suffocated her baby daughter, finally
causing her to spasm.Carmona said her daughter never gave any
indication she was having problems with Faith."I wish my daughter
would have called me and told me, 'I can't take it anymore,'" said
Carmona.She said she also blames Hernandez's live-in boyfriend in
the baby's death."Don't run off with the first man that pretends
to like you," she said as a warning to other single mothers.Carmona
said she is torn between grief and anger, and yet she wants to others
to learn from what happened to Faith. Rather than a pauper's burial,
M.E. Rodriguez Funeral Home general manager Amber Stegan said Faith was
given a chapel service and proper burial, "because she touched all our
hearts."Assisting in the public memorial service planned for
later next week is State Sen. Carlos Uresti, who founded the Blue Ribbon
Task Force on Child Abuse in Bexar County and whose legislation created
its statewide counterpart.According to Child Protective Services
spokeswoman Mary Walker, the agency first had contact with Hernandez
prior to her losing parental rights of her two sons in March 2009, one
because of medical neglect. At that time, the agency was not aware she
was pregnant with Faith, who was born four months later. Concern over
the premature baby's development led to CPS caseworkers again being
called in.Although no medical neglect was found, CPS monitored
the case, checking on Faith and her mother. The final visit was April
29, after which Walker said Hernandez started the relationship with her
current boyfriend.A CPS investigator assigned to SAPD responded
to the June 14 call that led to Hernandez's arrest yesterday.Carmona
recounted how her daughter and Faith's biological father were homeless
for a time. After getting on their feet, she said the couple broke up
and her daughter and Faith moved in with her."I regret the day
she left," said Carmona. Her granddaughter's very first birthday would
have been July 3.As she broke down in tears she said, "instead of
having a birthday party, I'm going to have to take her flowers."

By the time Silver Starr Hernandez gave birth to her third child she
was no stranger to Child Protective Services or the law. CPS had
already taken custody of two sons; her parental rights revoked. In
Bexar County, her rap sheet contained minor crimes but Kerr County
officials implicated her in a 2008 slaying. She pleaded to a lesser
charge of engaging in organized crime for stealing. On June 14,
when her daughter Faith Escamilla — just three weeks shy of her first
birthday — was found dead, lying face-down on a pillow, Hernandez, 25,
was again being monitored by CPS. She was arrested Wednesday in
connection with Faith's death and remained jailed on a capital murder
charge. It is the second time this year a mother has been charged with
capital murder in connection with her child's death. In February, Elyse
Colon was charged in the slayings of her two sons, ages 1 and 3. Colon
was also seeing a CPS caseworker at the time. CPS spokeswoman
Mary Walker said a caseworker monitoring Hernandez noticed improvement
and never saw any signs of abuse by the last visit at the end of April.
“The worker didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but something
changed,” she said. “There's no way of knowing what happened. There was
no way to predict this would happen.” Walker said Hernandez had
recently started a new relationship, and so far, that's the only thing
investigators have determined that changed in the last months of Faith's
short life. A Police Department spokeswoman, however, said
there was evidence of abuse on Faith's body, including bruising on the
leg, cuts, scabs and cigarette burns. The Bexar County medical
examiner's office hasn't determined the cause or manner of Faith's
death, but the arrest affidavit states she had injuries to the nose and
mouth consistent with suffocation. Hernandez allegedly told
investigators she'd held her hand over Faith's face and when she removed
her hand, Faith spasmed, the affidavit said. The story differed
from what she told responding officers the day of Faith's death. At
that time, she said Faith went to sleep on the floor next to a bed.
Later, Hernandez asked her boyfriend to wake up Faith and it was then
she was found unresponsive. CPS first began investigating
Faith's case when the child's doctors called the agency because the
infant was at-risk for cerebral palsy and Hernandez was ignoring her
daughter's follow-up appointments. “This baby also had some kind
of seizure disorder and was seeing a doctor for that,” Walker said.
Shortly after CPS began its investigation and working with
Hernandez, Faith's doctors were pleased with her progress and reported
she had no evidence of abuse or neglect. A caseworker visited Hernandez
once a month and last saw the mother and child April 29. The worker
didn't see Hernandez in May despite visited the apartment unannounced
twice.“In reading all of these reports, there were no past incidents of
violence with the child,” Walker said. “The worker never saw any bruises
or scars on the baby, and there was no reason to believe she would harm
(Faith).” Hernandez had already lost her first two children to
state custody. In 2007, when her then-8-month-old son was hospitalized,
there were concerns about his medical care and nutrition. He and his
older brother, then 5, were both placed in the care of a female
relative, but the relative couldn't properly care for the children.
Hernandez lost her parental rights after she stopped visiting her sons.
In Kerr County, Hernandez, also known as Silver Starr Corona, was
one of 16 people implicated in the 2008 murder plot of Allan Kowalski,
52, who was found buried in his backyard. She pleaded guilty to a charge
of organized crime for stealing Kowalski's property and was sentenced
to 10 years probation on Feb. 19, 2009, officials said. Two
people were charged with murder in Kowalski's death. Charles L. Tidwell,
of Ingram, and Ricado Giovannetti, of San Antonio, both are awaiting
trial. Assistant District Attorney Lucy Wilke said Hernandez is a
witness in the case and was “cooperating fully.”

Boyfriend charged in baby's death


Mother has been jailed since last June, when Faith Escamilla died.





Updated 08:04 a.m., Monday, May 2, 2011

Almost a year after little Faith Escamilla died of asphyxiation just shy of her first birthday, and the subsequent arrest of her mother for capital murder in the case, a second person has been charged in connection with the killing.

The mother, Silver Starr Hernandez, has been jailed since her arrest on the same morning of her daughter's funeral last June.

Her boyfriend, Lupe Lopez Martinez, 31, has also been charged with one count of capital murder in the case, according to city magistrate records Friday. Bail was set at $500,000.

Martinez has been in the Bexar County Jail since February on drug charges, according to jail records.

Martinez found the baby facedown and not breathing on the afternoon of June 14, about four hours after Hernandez put her down for a nap, the couple told police.

Elizabeth Carmona, Hernandez's mother, said she was not aware of Martinez being charged. She said she visits her daughter in jail and still believes Hernandez didn't hurt Faith, but instead got involved with the wrong man. Carmona had said previously her daughter didn't know that the autopsy results for Faith concluded there were blunt force trauma injuries to the child's face.

Faith had a seizure disorder, and Hernandez thought she had an epileptic attack, according to the family.

But Hernandez told police she put her hand over Faith's mouth and nose for an “extended” period of time, and when she removed her hand the baby suffered a spasm and she left the room, an arrest warrant affidavit said.

As for Martinez, the couple told police that around 5 p.m., Hernandez asked him to wake up Faith so they could go the store. That was when he found her, yelled for Hernandez and began trying to resuscitate the child, according to a police report and Hernandez's affidavit.

Further information was not available on whether authorities believed Martinez's role in the incident had changed. While a District Court case number was assigned to the charge, no information was available on if the warrant resulted from a grand jury indictment.



Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/default/article/Boyfriend-charged-in-baby-s-death-1361132.php#ixzz1O4OibxXM

Mom pleads guilty in baby's murder
Plea deal requires testimony against her boyfriend.
By Craig Kapitan
ckapitan@express-news.net
Updated 01:44 a.m., Thursday, September 22, 2011

A mother who told police her 11-month-old died after she covered the child's mouth and nose while her boyfriend pinned the baby's arms has pleaded guilty to murder.
Silver Starr Hernandez, 26, took a plea Tuesday in which prosecutors agreed to reduce her charge from capital murder and seek a 40-year sentence in exchange for her testifying against boyfriend Lupe Lopez Martinez, 32.
Had she been convicted of capital murder, Hernandez's only two options would have been life without parole or the death penalty.
Hernandez was arrested in June 2010, after Faith Escamilla was taken to the hospital with broken ribs, facial abrasions, a torn mouth and bruises. The medical examiner's office determined her cause of death was asphyxiation.
Over the course of four interviews with investigators, Hernandez went from denying any wrongdoing to blaming her boyfriend, then admitted she had participated in covering the child's mouth and nose on multiple occasions to stop her crying — a disciplinary procedure she said her boyfriend came up with.
On the morning of the baby's death, she said she was exhausted from having used drugs the night before and covered the baby's mouth so she could get some sleep.
“I know she didn't die on her own,” Hernandez eventually said, adding that she felt she was responsible for the death.
But she later recanted, explaining she felt guilty only because she didn't stop her boyfriend's abuse.
“What we have here is a situation where I think both people are responsible for that child's death, and both have made admissions,” prosecutor Kirsta Melton said Wednesday, pointing out that Hernandez's mental health issues and history as a victim of abuse were taken into consideration.
Martinez's capital murder trial is tentatively set for February.
“Truthful testimony on her part will be very helpful because she's been very consistent that he was a large player in the prior abuse of the baby and the abuse that day,” Melton added.
Defense attorney Anthony Cantrell could not be reached for comment.


Read more: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Mother-takes-40-year-plea-for-suffocating-baby-2182480.php#ixzz1Z81MJrqp