Baby suffocates when parents put her in hotel drawer to quiet cries, TX cops say
The 4-month-old baby girl was found dead at a Days Inn in west Houston on May 26, 2024, McClatchy News previously reported. There were no obvious signs of physical abuse, but investigators called the girl's death 'suspicious.'
According to court records, Brookelynn Fancher was pronounced dead at 1:11 p.m. after first responders attempted life-saving measures, and her death 'did not appear to be from natural causes.'
Now, the girl's mother and father — 21-year-old Destiny Campos and 38-year-old Jeremy Fancher — are accused of murder, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a June 21 news release.
McClatchy reached out to an attorney representing Campos for comment but didn't immediately hear back. No attorney information was available for Fancher.
McClatchy also reached out to Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, which owns Days Inn, but didn't immediately receive a response.
Deputies learned the couple had been staying at the hotel for months, along with their infant daughter, Brookelynn, and 18-month-old son, court records said.
Campos told deputies that Brookelynn's crying annoyed Fancher and that Fancher would use a bottle to quiet her down, but other times Fancher placed the girl in a dresser drawer and closed it, documents read. Fancher would also stuff a towel around the edges of the drawer to make it so Brookelynn couldn't kick the drawer open, she said, according to documents.
A housekeeper became aware of what the couple was doing and, on one occasion, they complained to hotel management, showing them a photo of the baby in the drawer and 'demanded they do something about it,' court records said. The housekeeper also confronted Campos, who laughed and said it wasn't a problem, according to records.
On the day Brookelynn was found dead, Campos woke up around noon, she told investigators, and Fancher was out grocery shopping, picking up food for his family to grill on Memorial Day, documents read. Campos was clearing space in the refrigerator when Fancher returned to the hotel room and asked her if she had checked on Brookelynn, at which point they opened the dresser drawer and saw she wasn't moving, according to documents.
Campos was booked into the Harris County Jail and Fancher was jailed in Tom Green County, Gonzalez said.
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