Deputies find abandoned infant twins after mom crashes car on I-20 in East Texas
A 26-year-old woman was arrested overnight after she allegedly abandoned her twin infants after crashing her vehicle near Interstate 20 in East Texas, deputies with the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.
One baby was found in the crashed vehicle, which appeared to be totaled, according to authorities.
The second infant was finally located after an almost two-hour search of the woods and areas near Interstate 20 in Harrison County, which is about 185 miles east of Fort Worth. That baby was found alone in a home where the woman had recently moved, authorities said.
About 60 authorities from East Texas agencies searched for the twins, according to a Facebook post by the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office.
The mother has been identified as Fantasia Martinez, 26, of Marshall, according to officials with the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies were alerted by motorists that a woman was running into traffic on I-20 about 9:45 p.m. Tuesday.
A few minutes later, deputies and troopers with the Texas Department of Public Safety found the woman, who authorities said appeared to be “under the influence of alcohol and possibly narcotics due to her erratic behavior and difficulty making complete sense of the situation.”
The woman was arrested and taken to the back of a HCSO patrol car, where she told authorities that she had been driving when her vehicle broke down, and her 6-month-old twins were still in the car.
At that time, there was no car found in the area.
Deputies and troopers later searched the scene, and they found her vehicle crashed on a south service road near I-20, but the engine was still running.
The vehicle appeared to have crashed through the end of several road barricades and ended up at a tree, deputies said.
One child was found in the back seat of the vehicle, and authorities called for paramedics after having to break a window to get to the baby. The second infant was found about two hours later at home.
While authorities had been searching for the child, Martinez had slipped out of her handcuffs and climbed through a small gap in the back cage into the front of the police car, the sheriff’s office said, but she was captured a few minutes later.
Martinez was taken to the Harrison County Jail and she faces two counts of abandoning/endangering a child and charges of driving while intoxicated, escape and resisting arrest.
“It is heartbreaking to know that some children have to live in these conditions,” said Harrison County Sheriff Brandon “BJ” Fletcher in a Facebook post. “But I am glad no lives were lost.”
