How Two Separate Texas Vehicle Incidents Led to Child Deaths

Recently and on two separate occasions in Texas, two young children died after being left unattended in vehicles under the sweltering sun. A total of three people are facing charges as a result.

The Death of a 4-Year-Old in Cameron County

On June 27 at roughly five in the afternoon, Brownsville PD responded to a call about a child left alone in a daycare van. The vehicle was parked outside of The Learning Club Preschool in Brownsville, TX.

As officers arrived, they found a 4-year-old child unresponsive in the van. When EMS arrived on the scene, they declared the child was deceased.

Day care workers Karen Silva, 36, and Sendy Ruiz, 38, were both placed under arrest and charged with injury to a child causing death, a second-degree felony in Texas.

Brownsville PD provided more details on the arrest in a Facebook post:

Both women were the last to use the van to transport children, but left the 4-year-old in the vehicle "for several hours," according to a Brownsville Department spokesperson.

Silva was later released from the Carrizalez-Rucker Detention Center on a $10,000 bond, while Ruiz remains in custody on a $60,000 bond.

Texas 3-Month-Old Left in Locked Car

Also in the same weekend on June 28, officers in Hidalgo County received a report of an infant seemingly unresponsive in a locked vehicle just outside the city of Mission, TX.

The father of the 3-month-old, Ricardo Mata, when questioned, admitted he had been drinking earlier that day and exited the vehicle to lay down but forgot his infant son was in the back seat.

The exact length of time the young child was left in the car is unclear, but it was long enough for family members to begin questioning where he was.

The father remains in custody on a $2M bond. He also has prior convictions of murder and attempted murder from 2021.