Mother who took bruised, unresponsive daughter to substation charged in connection with girl's death

Doctors find numerous injuries on 4-year-old girl

SAN ANTONIO – A mother who carried her bruised and unresponsive 4-year-old into a police substation two weeks ago is now charged in connection with the girl's death.

Jessica Briones, 34, faces a charge of intentional injury to a child, police said.

The day after 4-year-old Olivia Briones was carried into the San Antonio Police Department substation, she died at University Hospital.

The girl had numerous injuries and a doctor found multiple sites of bleeding in the girl's head and swelling of the brain. He said it was consistent with a severe blow to the head.

Police say Briones had the sole care, custody and control of Olivia.

Briones told police that on the morning she brought Olivia to the substation, the girl was vomiting and would not wake up. She told police the girl falls a lot and had fallen and hit her head on the floor four days earlier.

Briones also said she slammed the girl's arm in the door, but it was an accident.

An investigator described numerous injuries she observed during the autopsy, including at least eight scars in various stages of healing on the girl's scalp, a swollen right wrist and arm, a swollen left arm around the elbow, a bruised ankle and an abrasion on the back of her head.

While Olivia was in the hospital, in addition to the head trauma, a doctor found a black eye, fractured vertebrae, a deflated lung and evidence of prior injury to her left and right arms.

Police said Briones did not give an explanation for her daughter's multiple injuries or the severity of the head trauma. Now she faces a first-degree felony for knowingly causing serious bodily injury.

Briones is in the Bexar County Jail on a $25,000 bond.


About the Author:

Garrett Brnger is a reporter with KSAT 12.