A Texas mother has been charged with murder in the death of her infant son who died inside a car in 100-degree heat last year.
Gabriela Elyzabeth Deras, 22, was arrested Friday and charged in the death of 2-month-old Ethan Rosa Deras on Aug. 8, 2023, according to the Houston Police Department.
Officers found the child unresponsive at the Harris Center for Mental Health and Intellectual Developmental Clinic in Houston, the department said in a news release Monday. Police later learned that Ethan was left in the vehicle “for some time before he was discovered.” Paramedics took the infant to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
In April, an autopsy ruled that Ethan’s manner of death was a homicide, leading to Deras’ arrest and murder charge, police said.
Infant’s grandmother says Deras ‘loved her son with her entire soul’
Deras’ mother, Leonela Deras, told KTRK-TV that the family is devasted about Ethan’s death, and are confused and hurting about the recent developments, saying that her daughter had schizophrenia, post-partem depression and could be forgetful.
She told the station that her daughter never would have intentionally killed her son.
“She loved her son with her entire soul,” she told the station in Spanish, adding that losing him was like losing her own life.
Mother reportedly had mental illness or an intellectual disability
At a probable cause court hearing, a hearing officer revealed officials determined Deras has a mental illness or an intellectual…
