A Texas couple has been arrested and charged with murder after an 8-year-old they forced to jump on a trampoline as a punishment died of dehydration, ABC reported.
Police in Odessa, Texas, charged 44-year-old Daniel Schwarz and 34-year-old Ashley Schwarz with capital murder on Oct. 12 after police responding to an Aug. 29 medical call found the 8-year-old girl dead, according to ABC.
“[The] investigation revealed that the 8-year-old child had been punished and was not allowed to eat breakfast and was required to jump on the trampoline without stopping for an extended period of time,” the Odessa Police Department said in a statement. “Further investigation revealed that the 8-year-old child was not allowed to drink any water because she was not jumping.”
DISTURBING: A Texas couple allegedly forced an 8-year-old girl to jump on the trampoline as punishment in the August heat. Authorities say the girl wasn’t allowed to eat breakfast or drink any water that day. https://t.co/Uxc5fRPWPS
— KWTX News 10 (@kwtx) October 12, 2020
Police obtained a search warrant and found the temperature of the trampoline at 110 degrees and the ground at nearly 150 degrees. The final autopsy listed the death as a homicide and the cause of death as dehydration, per the statement. (RELATED: ‘One Of The Worst Cases Of Child Abuse’: Parents Sentenced To 27 Years In Prison, 24 Strokes Of The Cane For Killing 5-Year-Old)
“Based on the facts and circumstances presented during the investigation, capital murder warrants were obtained for both Daniel Schwarz and Ashley Schwarz, who were charged and arrested accordingly and transported to the Ector County Law Enforcement Center,” the police statement said.
Odessa Police Department spokesperson Cpl. Steve LeSueur could not confirm to the Odessa American whether the girl was in foster care but said the couple were not the girl’s biological parents, ABC reported.
