A fifty-seven-year-old Texas woman, who was disabled and limited to her bed, died on Saturday in a hospital in San Antonio after officials from Bexar County came across her stuck in a home with “filthy conditions” and rushed her to seek medical care. Patricia Martinez had become bedridden after suffering a disability that limited her ability to move around and complete regular tasks by herself, so she relied on her three adult children to help her navigate the world and to protect her from harm.
Unfortunately, Martinez’s three adult children did not do their due diligence to protect their mother from harm. Instead, they allowed her to wallow in filthy conditions that became so bad that authorities found mold growing on the woman’s body.
“It’s likely she’s going to pay with her life for their neglect,” Salazar told KENS5 before the woman died. “God have mercy on their souls when their time comes.”
Adult Protective Services (APS) alerted deputies to the woman’s condition, so they came to her aid and found her stuck in a Texas home that was a living hell. In addition to the mold covering her body, the woman was living in the middle of an insect infestation. In addition to the horrible living conditions, the woman also began suffering from kidney failure as a result of the neglect she endured at the hands of her three adult children.
“She was found wearing an adult diaper packed with feces in a dried state where it was physically causing infections in other parts of her body,” Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar told News 4, San Antonio, on Friday.
APS reported the case to the police after their agents noticed “a steep decline in the level of her health,” the sheriff added. Although their mother died, the three adult children were not charged with murder or manslaughter. Instead, the three perpetrators, Oscar Dominguez, 37; Roxanna Carrero, 24; and Pedro Luis Carrero, 18, were all arrested and charged with injury to a disabled person with serious bodily injury, according to a report published in Daily Mail.
In Texas, their crimes are classified as first-degree felonies.
Although all three adult children lived with their mother in the family home, none of them appeared to have done anything to support their mother’s health and wellness. “It appeared none of them were doing what they were supposed to be doing,” the sheriff reported.
The disabled Texas woman required her adult children to administer her medication, feed her when necessary, and wash her along with other types of care. They did none of it, allowing mold to fester all over their mother’s body and for her to near death surrounded by an insect infestation.
All three adult children remained locked up in Bexar County Jail with their bond set at $85,000 each.
An investigation into the woman’s death is ongoing. There’s a possibility that the charges against her children could be elevated to murder.