27-year-old Trevor Rowe is facing murder charges after officers said he stuffed a 10-month-old baby into a knapsack and left her in the trunk of his car for over 5 hours.
He picked up his girlfriend’s baby Marion Jester-Montoya from the flat he shares with the child’s mother then brought her to his work, according to police.
The child’s family said to BuzzFeed News that the Texas man works for his girlfriend’s family as a roofer.
He first put the baby in a backpack and placed her on the front passenger seat floorboard for many hours, returning to check on her from time to time, he said to Lubbock police.
When he returned to his vehicle around lunchtime, he saw that the child was still breathing but crying
He left again to buy some food and then came back to move the baby, still in the backpack, into the trunk, where she was left for more than five hours.
When Rowe returned around 5 pm, the child had already stopped breathing. He called emergency services and attempted CPR while waiting for an ambulance.
Paramedics took Marion to University Medical Center but she was pronounced dead.
Rowe is held at the Lubbock County Detention Center with a bond set at $2 million, according to police.
Marion’s biological father, Emilio Montoya, said to Buzz News that he reached out to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services two times before the incident as he noticed rashes, bruises and other concerning issues regarding his child after spending time with her.
“I told the DFPS worker that one day I am going to get a call that something bad was going to have happened to my daughter and I don’t want to get that call,” he told BuzzFeed News. “I had shown them text messages, pictures, and nothing happened.”
A spokesperson for the agency, Patrick Crimmins, told BuzzFeed News that “there was prior involvement with DFPS but the details are being investigated.”
Montoya also said that the last time she saw Marion, “she clung on to me and screamed.”
“There was nothing I could do,” he expressed.
“She always knew that I was dad,” he added. “Every time I called, she would scream ‘Dada’ into the phone.”
What’s your take on this? Let us know in the comments section! SHARE this with your friends and family and don’t forget to FOLLOW our page for more stories and news!
Replaced!