Booking photos of Jazzlin Victorian and Jonte Brown (Harris County Sheriff’s Office)
Police have filed charges against the godmother of a 1-year-old girl in Texas, along with the woman’s boyfriend, after finding the baby inside a hot car riddled with bruises, abrasions and punctures.
Jazzlin Victorian, 25, allegedly told police that she left her young goddaughter, Lalani Smith, in a car with one window cracked and a semi-functional air conditioner while she visited shops in the surrounding area to ask for money. The Harris County Sherriff’s Office did not say why it responded to the scene where Smith was found but that the child was injured when they arrived.
Smith was taken to the hospital where a nurse recorded a fever of 106 degrees and according to ABC13 KTRK, the child was pronounced dead at the hospital. Before the girl had died, police reportedly said they observed injuries including at least three golf ball-sized bruises on her neck and head and nail punctures along various places on her body and in different stages of healing.
Smith was identified by her family to the press and the child’s aunt told KTRK she had no idea how something like this could have happened but that they loved the little girl very much. The woman also said her niece was being looked after that day by Victorian and Victorian’s boyfriend, Jonte Brown, 28.
Police arrested both Victorian and Brown on Sept. 2 after finding Smith in the vehicle. They charged Brown with causing injury to a child for allegedly beating her and charged Victorian with injury to a child by omission. It is unclear why Brown was zeroed in on for the actual injury.
Both are still being held at the Harris County Jail in Houston. Brown’s bail was set at $75,000; Victorian’s was set at $50,000.
During a bail hearing earlier his week, video footage from inside the courtroom showed Victorian dropping her head and covering her face as the charges were read aloud. Neither she nor Brown could explain where the baby’s injuries came from.
They appear in court next on Monday, Sept. 11.
A representative from the Harris County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately return a request for comment Wednesday.
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