A Texas woman faces life in prison for super-gluing her 2-year-old daughter's hand and then beating the girl so badly that she suffered bleeding in her brain.
Elizabeth Escalona, a 23-year-old mother of five children, pled guilty to first-degree injury to a child in July to attacking her daughter, Jocelyn Cedillo, last September, the Associated Press reports. Police said the mother attacked her daughter due to potty training problems.
Evidence, including photos and a bottle of super glue, was shown to the jury Monday during a sentencing hearing.
AP says Cedillo was hospitalized for one week with injuries that included a fractured rib, severe bruises caused by direct blows. Escalona's other kids told police their mother kicked the 2 year old in the stomach and repeatedly hit her.
"The entire picture was very shocking. I see a lot of children. This was one of the worst, shocking cases that I've seen," said Dr. Amy Barton, a former pediatrician at Children's Medical Center, reported NBC News. "The child was brought in by a private vehicle with extensive trauma. It looked like the child had been abused and wasn't sure the child was going to make it. She had bruising on her belly."
Dallas Police Sr. Cpl. Abel Lopez interviewed Escalona after the attack.
"She never really asked" about Jocelyn's condition, Lopez said. "I had to tell her."
In a videotaped interview with Lopez, Escalona repeatedly said "I'm taking the blame."
Cadilla was found by her grandmother, Ofelia Escalona, lying on the floor "taking shallow breathes."
Escalona had called Ofelia to the house after the attack.
"I had my daughter in front of me, but she was not all there," Ofelia said.
She picked Cadillo up off the floor and noticed she had soiled her underwear, the grandmother said. She changed Cadillo and took her to the hospital.
That's when the story takes an even more bizarre twist: Ofelia said her granddaughter started talking, asking for food. Thinking Cadillo was OK, Ofelia told her son to turn the car around and go home.
"I made a horrible mistake," Ofelia said.
NBC says if found guilty, the judge can sentence Escalona to live in prison.
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