Man, woman arrested after child suffers seizure stemming from abuse, BCSO says

The pair is charged with injury to a child causing serious bodily injury, a first-degree felony

(From left) Thomas Torres, 24, and Marissa Salas, 19. (KSAT)

SAN ANTONIODetails in this story may be disturbing and hard to read for some. Reader discretion advised.

A man and a woman are in custody after Bexar County sheriff’s deputies said they abused a 15-month-old child and caused her to have a seizure, sending her to the hospital in critical condition.

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A deputy was called to assist when the child was having a seizure on Tuesday at a home in the 900 block of Novella in far East Bexar County.

When the deputy arrived, they found the child with bruises, bite marks and a bump on her head.

She was taken to an area hospital, where deputies said more injuries were found by an emergency room doctor -- a burn mark on her left thigh, a hip fracture, a toe fracture and a skull fracture.

The child’s head injury is consistent with child abuse, according to the doctor, as it was likely caused “by a forceful hit to the head.”

Investigators contacted the child’s caretaker, Marissa Salas, 19, to figure out how the child was injured.

When questioned, Salas said she dropped the child and hadn’t noticed the injuries.

As the investigation continued, the child’s second caretaker, Thomas Torres, 24, was found to have assaulted the child, investigators said. Salas was aware but never “reported it, intervened, or sought care for the child,” according to the sheriff’s office.

Deputies said Torres had thrown the child in the air when she hit her head on the ceiling, and he laughed during the assaults.

When Torres was interviewed by investigators, he confessed to injuring the child. He said he would bite her, pick her up with one arm and spank her, all out of anger.

After Torres and Salas were questioned about how the child got a skull fracture, neither provided an answer, deputies said.

The child is currently in critical condition, as she is recovering from emergency surgery.

“We ask that this little angel stay in your prayers that she desperately needs, to help her make a full and successful recovery,” the sheriff’s office said.

Salas was booked for injury to a child causing serious bodily injury, a first-degree felony, and is being held on a $100,000 bond.

Torres was also taken into the Bexar County Jail for injury to a child causing serious bodily injury, a first-degree felony, and is being held on a $150,000 bond.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article stated that the 19-year-old woman was the child’s foster parent. That information was provided by the sheriff’s office and is incorrect. A person must be 21 to be a foster parent in Texas. A source familiar with this case said the baby had been placed with the teen as a legal caregiver because she is a relative.


About the Author:

Cody King is a digital journalist for KSAT 12. She previously worked for WICS/WRSP 20 in Springfield, Illinois.