‘Trying to baptize them’: Woman drowned 4-year-old in the tub in front of her siblings, then threatened them with ‘Hell’ if they told, police say

An Indiana woman drowned a child while trying to baptize them

Background: The Spring, Texas neighborhood where police found a 6-year-old child dead after being ‘baptize[d]” (Google Maps). Inset: Nakia Martin (Harris County Jail).

An Indiana woman babysitting a relative’s children allegedly drowned a 4-year-old girl while trying to “baptize” her in the bathtub.

The alleged incident happened back in September 2023, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in December 2024. Nakia Martin, 39, was arrested in December following an investigation into the death of a child whom she was caring for. According to the affidavit, Martin is cousins with the child’s mother, who was in Indiana at the time Martin was babysitting the children in Spring, Texas. The document stated that Martin called for assistance after finding the child foaming at the mouth and “cold to the touch.”

On the morning of Sept. 9, 2023, Martin saw that the child was not doing well and called a family member before calling authorities. When officers arrived at the home, the child was found in a bedroom and pronounced dead at the scene.

The document stated that puddles surrounded a “large, dirty Jacuzzi tub” in the bathroom that was next to the bedroom where the child’s body lay. Officers said that Martin appeared “distressed,” but spoke to officers, telling them that the night before, she had bathed the child and put lotion on her and one of her siblings. She reportedly admitted to being in the bathtub with all the children, including the alleged victim.

When Martin was asked when she took the bath, she said she didn’t remember. She was also asked if she remembered calling to report a drowning and allegedly answered, “I don’t think so.” Martin also reportedly claimed that she was “just holding” the now-deceased child and “didn’t mean to kill this baby,” later stating, “I killed a kid.”

The officers questioned the two other children, ages 6 and 8 years old, and they had a much more detailed story. Both of the children told one of the officers that “something happened, the Devil,” and that the lotion Martin had put on the deceased child was “blessing oil.”

Police then contacted the girl’s mother, who said that her surviving daughter told her that Martin was “trying to baptize them” on the night her other daughter drowned. The mother had checked in on the children the day before the incident and spoke to Martin, in a FaceTime call, during which she saw her three children in the tub, all of them alive. But she also told police that Martin’s behavior was concerning to her, saying she “had been acting strangely and ranting about God.” According to the document, Martin had told the children “that God would show them something.”

The siblings of the deceased child were interviewed again at a later time. During that interview, the surviving daughter allegedly said that Martin had held her sister under the water and “caused [her] to bleed.” The girl also stated that Martin allegedly attempted to drown her. She stated that Martin told her to “keep the incident a secret and threatened her with Hell.”

When the boy was interviewed, he provided more disturbing details about the alleged incident between Martin and his deceased sister. He allegedly stated that he was in the tub at the same time and witnessed his late sister “struggling to breathe and pulling [Martin]’s hair.” After Martin allegedly pushed the girl back under the water, the boy tried to help but Martin allegedly stopped him.

Martin was arrested in December 2024 and extradited to Harris County in Texas where she was charged with capital murder of a child under 10 years old. She is next due in court on March 20.

WISH, a local CW affiliate in Indianapolis, Indiana, reported that the delay in arresting Martin was due to interviews related to the investigation and the autopsy report on the girl, according to a spokesperson for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.

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‘Trying to baptize them’: Woman drowned 4-year-old in the tub in front of her siblings, then threatened them with ‘Hell’ if they told, police say

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‘Trying to baptize them’: Woman drowned 4-year-old in the tub in front of her siblings, then threatened them with ‘Hell’ if they told, police say

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