Some new and troubling information about the death of a 17-month-old girl in Galveston on Wednesday was found near the seawall.
Channel Yonko, the child’s mother, is charged with capital murder as she is said to have dropped the toddler from a hotel window on the third floor. She went to court on Thursday morning, but her bond was refused by a magistrate judge.
Officials from CPS say Yonko has a past with their organization. They would not say more, but they did say that Hannah, who is 17 months old, was not involved in the problems.
The memorial on the Seawall next to the Kroger keeps getting bigger. That is where little Hannah was found on Wednesday, in the middle of 59th Street.
New information from the charging papers says that police have surveillance video from the second floor of the Beach Front Palms Hotel. On this video, it shows the toddler falling from the third-floor balcony and rolling onto the concrete sidewalk.
The papers also say the baby had several stab wounds. The police think Hannah’s mother killed her by dropping her from the window.
A short time after Hannah was found on 59th Street, Yonko was arrested. She was crying and asking for help when the police found her nearby. She also said that her kid might have been sick.
In handcuffs and a dark green jumpsuit, Yonko went to court with a Galveston County district judge on Thursday morning, having spent the night in jail.
While her rights were being read to her, she was told not to say anything. Instead, she asked to call a lawyer.
“Can I receive my phone call?” Yonko asked in court.
I see you are here for magistrate court, ma’am. Just pay attention to what is being said. The judge told them, “Do not ask any other questions unless you have to.”
People all over the island are sad about Yonko’s 17-month-old daughter, whom cops say he killed.
“It was really upsetting news, and then I got to work and heard everyone talking about it, which made it even worse. I felt like I had to go pay my respects,” said Jasmine Hernandez, a pediatric nurse at UTMB.
Hernandez put some flowers and a doll at the tribute for Hannah that was growing. She said she hoped they could save Hannah when she heard she had been taken to the hospital right away.
Court papers say that Yonko and Hannah were staying at the hotel with Yonko’s sister.
The man who talked to ABC13 said that he found Hannah while driving down 59th Street. He said he saw the girl with a blanket around her.
“Seeing that broke my heart.” “To see such a precious, lovely, and perfect little girl lying there lifeless,” Uriba said.
Police also said they found Yonko’s room key, a knife, plastic sand toys, diapers that had not been used, and kid snacks that had not been opened in a trash bag in the hotel parking basement.
Many people on the island do not understand how a mother could have killed her daughter, as cops say she did.
“Especially somebody who was supposed to protect her from day one and then let her down,” she said.
A marriage document that Eyewitness News got shows that Yonko married an 80-year-old man in 2017. She was 23 years old at the time.
After two years, he asked for the marriage to be thrown out, saying that she had tricked him into marrying her and that they had never been married.
He also said Yonko had a kid with another man while they were married. Eyewitness News found out that this man has a long history of crimes in several states.
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