Krystleann Martinez Leaves Nine-Month-Old Son in Bathtub to Nearly Drown While She Goes Shopping
In Denver, Colorado, Krystleann Martinez, 20, left her nine-month-old son in a baby bathtub to go down to the drugstore, hang out in front of her home with one of her son’s two siblings, then make a call on her cellphone. She then lied to police and told them she only left to run downstairs and get a towel and found the baby face down in the tub.
Yeah, right. Luckily the Denver PD didn’t believe her either and have charged Martinez with felony child-abuse and three misdemeanor child abuse charges after neighbors told police that Martinez left her house to run down to the store.
The baby was barely alive when paramedics arrived at the home of a neighbor where Martinez had gone to call 911. For some reason she forgot she had her cellphone in her pocket, making me think she was a bit high or just really stupid.
Well, the latter since she had three kids by the time she’s 20. (Or maybe a touch crazy?)
Please folks, never ever leave a baby in a tub by themselves or with an older sibling, even for a second. A baby can flop over very easily and drown in seconds.
Tags: baby-bathtub-drowning, child-abuse, drowing, felony-child-abuse, Krystleann-MartinezRelated Stories
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27 opinions for Krystleann Martinez Leaves Nine-Month-Old Son in Bathtub to Nearly Drown While She Goes Shopping
JustJess
Aug 4, 2007 at 7:08 am
Didn’t she realize that at 9 months old they are still pretty wobbly and cannot sit up great? Especially in a tub filled with water! I guess she didn’t. And why would she leave young children home alone to go to the store anyway? It just ceases to amaze me how stupid some people can be! At least he didn’t die, hopefully he will have nothing wrong with his brain either. SAD
Ihavekidstoo
Aug 4, 2007 at 11:06 am
I don’t believe anyone is that stupid. Just like the people who intentionally leave kids in cars, this woman knew, deep down, that she was leaving her baby in a life-threatening situation.
At some level, maybe one they can’t even admit to themselves, these people WANT their children to die. Doing it this way will allow them to tell others (and themselves) that it was an accident. If they can sell that story, there will be no legal repercussions and they garner immense sympathy.
Thank God for her vigilant and talkative neighbors. Otherwise, police might have taken her story at face value and nothing at all would have happened to her.
JustJess
Aug 4, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Yeah, I had wondered when I read this that maybe she DID want the child to die-otherwise why would she do something like that. But it still makes her stupid whether she’s really stupid or not.
katrina
Aug 4, 2007 at 4:21 pm
I think this mother of the year should be blogged here: baby eats mother’s acid
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=642042
amy
Aug 4, 2007 at 5:25 pm
this story really makes me sick! what kind of idiot does things like this especially to a child. thankfully that baby lived. i say we drown the mother! lord forgive me!
Emily
Aug 4, 2007 at 6:50 pm
This is a rather saddening story and I feel really sorry for these children. I wonder where else this mother has failed them. I’m glad the child survived though and maybe it, and it’s siblings can be given to some attentive parents.
Also your 3rd last sentence is sickening. There are plenty of younger mothers out there with multiple children that do just fine and it doesn’t make us “stupid”. It’s the little statements like that which make us feel shunned when we should feel proud of what we accomplish.
Ihavekidstoo
Aug 4, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Emily, I don’t think JustJess was saying all younger mothers are “stupid,” just that this particular mother is stupid, regardless of her age. Being a good parent isn’t about how old you are or even how much money you have. There are plenty of good, young mothers out there who would never dream of doing something this careless.
JustJess
Aug 4, 2007 at 7:34 pm
I think that Emily was speaking of the last few sentences in the main blog?
Jenn
Aug 4, 2007 at 9:26 pm
I guess I should stop berating myself for leaving my one year old unattended during the time it takes me to step outside the bathroom door and grab a towel from the linen closet (right across the hall from the bathroom)? Granted, I’ve only done that twice, but still…
At least the baby is alive!
Emily
Aug 4, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Like JustJess said, I was talking about the original blog post. I probably should have specified that.
Cin
Aug 5, 2007 at 5:28 pm
Again so many stories i hear about young girls leaving there babies to death. This girl is pathetic.
Ihavekidstoo
Aug 6, 2007 at 5:40 am
Sorry Emily. I did misunderstand your post. You are absolutely right that being a young mother doesn’t mean you can’t be a good mother. However, I do think having three children before you’re 20 is, at the very least, setting yourself up for a really, really difficult challenge.
Katie
Aug 6, 2007 at 7:18 am
ADOPTION. HELLO?????? There are other options than trying to kill your child. It’s your own fault that you have a baby in the first place, so freaking make a responsible choice, like the one you made when you chose to have sex, and give your child away. Rather than hate your child for existing, which you caused, you should give it away to someone who wants it. It is not your child’s fault that you can’t take care of it and that you are selfish. It’s sociopathic almost to leave your child in bathtub and go about the rest of your selfish day doing other things while you know that your child is probably drowning inside your house. Young or not, that’s SO incredibly cruel and disgusting.
Shel
Aug 6, 2007 at 8:29 am
I think this woman was stoned out of her mind! I don’t think this was premeditated or she would have taken all the towels out of the bathroom and she wouldn’t have called 911 before she knew the child was dead. I seriously think she was high as a kite and decided to wash the baby, then got sidetracked and didn’t even think of the child again until she started to lose her buzz and realized that the baby wasn’t anywhere in sight.
I’m not condoning what she did, I’m just saying I don’t think there was malice involved. I think she was trying to cover her a** by lying to the police after they got here and I’m sure she will face jail time and lose custody of her children, but I would bet money on the fact that she was on drugs and didn’t intend to kill her baby.
Nizat
Aug 6, 2007 at 10:45 am
Screw that! Intentional or not…SHE DID IT! Age…number of children…rich or poor,high or not…her dumb ass left her baby in the tub! That’s the real issue…Jail, counceling, parenting classes, because you know our “system” will give people another chance at trying to be a “parent”.
Katie
Aug 6, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Nizat, I sincerely hope not. I have a hard time believing in second chances where children are involved. Maybe when the kid is 18 and decides he/she WANTS to see the parent again. Drugs or not, young or not, money or not, whatever race I DO NOT CARE. None of that is the point. The point is the child. Take the kid away. Period. She learns nothing by being allowed to keep it, and sadly it will probably only happen again.
Weapon of Mass Disturbance
Aug 6, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Like most bad parents, she knew exactly what she was doing. She simply didn’t care.
No Name
Aug 6, 2007 at 10:13 pm
Bad parenting is not an age issue, simply put some people need to not breed in the first place. If you are not going to use birth control, there are other orfices that do not cause pregnancy.
Nizat
Aug 7, 2007 at 7:49 am
Katie, that was sarcasm….although I and many people do not ever want to see this poor baby back with the mother, it sometimes happens in our “system”.
no name
Aug 8, 2007 at 11:26 am
mass sterilization of people who are negligent of their kids is the answer to all of this.
no name
Aug 8, 2007 at 11:27 am
mass sterilization of people who are negligent of their kids is the answer to all of this. execution for people who are found guilty of killing their kids.
miajemell
Aug 9, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Someone PLEASE give this girl a hystorectomy! She does NOT need to have anymore children! How irresponsible is that! Then she lied about it…come on now! If u don’t want to do the time don’t do the crime. She’s a selfish bitch and I wish I knew her. I’d whip her ass every time I see her for that act of cruelty against that precious baby. She’s a wack job! A real nut case! She will get what she deserves and Big Bertha up in prison is gonna give it to her too! Karma is a bitch….really!
UM????
Aug 10, 2007 at 6:30 am
If you read the original story, it sounds like the baby is alive, cause it states the baby was barely alive when paramedics arrived. Thank goodness it was saved before it died!
miajemell
Aug 10, 2007 at 6:55 am
UM??? TY for the clarification on the baby….I agree Thank God the baby is still alive!
...Bree...
Aug 10, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Well this just ticks me off. Even to lie about it saying your just going to retrieve a towel is stupid. When I first had my son I did the same thing, I forgot the towel, BUT I BROUGHT HIS SOAKING LITTLE BUT WITH ME TO GET IT, not leave him in the tub, even if it meant soaking myself too.
I dont even know how any parent could walk to the store and do all that leaving an infant in the tub, I’ve seen how easily my son wiggles around in his and that scares me.
This place never ceases to amaze me……Im glad I found it, I definatly feel like a better parent and who knows, I might even learn something from it all. THANK YOU for actually making a site worth looking at.
Amanda
Aug 12, 2007 at 6:18 pm
If she just had to leave him behind while she went to the store, she couldn’t have left him someplace safe like his crib or the pack and play? Not that it would have been OK, but my God! The bathtub? Freaking genius this girl is. Oh yea and I’m sorry if it offends anybody, but if you are 20 years old and have 3 children, you’re irresponsible and stupid. I don’t give a damn how mature you think you are. I’m not saying that young mothers are stupid either. I’ve known plenty that had ONE baby at 16 and were wonderful mothers, but they figured out what was causing it and didn’t let it happen again.
rockdoll_71
Oct 7, 2007 at 10:23 pm
I agree with Katie and Amanda. This girl was 20 with 3 kids already?!! What a dumbass! I’m glad that her baby didn’t die. An angel must have been watching over it, poor little thing.
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