A woman in Texas has been arrested and charged in connection with the death of her 6-year-old stepdaughter, who police say she beat to death using a metal-studded belt. The beating was said to be the child’s punishment for wetting the bed. Jessica Bundren, age 42, was arrested on Sunday shortly after the child died due to her injuries. During that day, officers were called to the home after 9 p.m. when the child, whose name has been withheld, had become unresponsive. At first, Bundren told officers that the child had fallen down the stairs earlier that night, after which she was told to go to her room to sleep, KHOU11 reports.
She said that when she went in to check on her stepdaughter later that night, the 6-year-old had stopped breathing. The officers on the scene said in their report that they had discovered the victim lying on her bedroom floor under a sheet. When officers inspected the child’s body, they found that she had “suffered injuries to her face, head, upper body, and on her legs.” The injuries appeared to be welt marks along with puncture wounds, the type that would have been left by a studded belt. After they questioned Bundren, she eventually confessed to whipping the child because she wet her bed.
Bundren told police that she would beat the child over the last two weeks for bedwetting, according to WTAW. She also told authorities that she would strike the child six times for each incident before forcing her to sleep on the floor.
Bryan woman accused of beating 6-year-old with belt, girl found dead in home https://t.co/T60ipQcS2d
— KVUE News (@KVUE) October 28, 2020
Bundren was booked into the Brazos County Jail, where she remains in custody on a $150,000 bond.
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