5-Month-Old Girl Was Killed During Weekend of Abuse, Parents Waited Days to Get Help: Sheriff

A 5-month-old Texas girl who was left brain dead after being brutally beaten over the course of a “horrific weekend” has died and now her parents are facing criminal charges, authorities allege.

On Sept. 29, the baby girl, identified only as Ja’nae, was rushed to a local hospital suffering from multiple rib fractures and a brain bleed, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.

“After suffering a horrific weekend starting on 9/26/24, where she was said to be throwing up, partially paralyzed, vomiting blood etc. It wasn’t until Sunday that she was taken to the ER,” Gonzalez wrote. 

The baby appeared to have old and new fractures, he wrote.

Calling the situation “sad and disturbing, Gonzalez wrote, “Her prognosis was grim” when she arrived at the hospital.

Ja’nae, who had “no brain function,” Gonzalez wrote, died of her injuries on Wednesday, Oct. 2.

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Her parents, Glenn Wayne Smith, 25, and Jasmine Ellison, 23, of Houston, were arrested and charged with injury to a child and serious bodily injury.

In court, prosecutors detailed how the two allegedly waited to call 911 to get help for their daughter.

“The abuse is said to have taken place over a four-day period, or the most recent abuse, in which the child was in the care of both this defendant and the child’s father,” prosecutors said, local station ABC 13 reports. 

“The child was found with multiple serious injuries including swelling and bleeding of the brain, no brain activity at the time of admission, blood coming out of her mouth, broken ribs, healed broken ribs,” prosecutors said in court, ABC 13 reports.

Prosecutors alleged, “Medical staff said the injuries were likely caused by aggressively shaking the child,” reports ABC 13.

Smith and Ellison remain held at the Harris County Jail. 

Initially held on a $1 million bond, Smith’s bond was later reduced to $250,000, ABC 13 reports. 

Ellison’s bond was set at $150,000.

Their attorneys did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.