Texas Woman Smothered 3-Month-Old Daughter To Death, Tried To Kill Other Babies

A Texas woman was arrested for smothering her 3-month-old daughter with a pillow, authorities said Saturday. Andrea Burks, 40, of Longview, also tried to smother her two other daughters because she feared authorities would take them away.

Burks was taken to the Gregg County Jail on $2,002,500 in bonds charged with capital murder and assault on a family/household member to impede breath/circulation and was held on a local warrant for affidavit of incarceration for assault causes bodily injury, family violence.

The incident came to light after Burks entered a convenience store in the 3300 block of South Eastman Road and said she killed someone in her apartment. Police arrived at the Pine Grove Apartments in the 700 block of Ethel Street where they found the infant unresponsive. The baby was taken to a Longview medical center, where she was pronounced dead, local media reported.

While being interviewed, Burked confessed that she feared Child Protective Services would take the baby away from her and she "was going to do anything to keep that from happening."

An autopsy performed in Dallas revealed that the infant had an injury around her mouth and nose consistent with smothering, according to the report.

In a recent incident in Wisconsin, a 19-year-old was charged with felony neglect of a dependent after her 5-month-old boy was abused and as a result, diagnosed with a near-fatal brain hemorrhage. The infant, who suffered severe abuse, was first treated at King’s Daughters’ Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, and was later transferred to a hospital in Louisville for additional care.

According to the Madison police, the mother, identified as Destany Jae Burge, was arrested when officers responded to the KDH Emergency Room on the night of April 24 after the hospital informed about an alleged case of child abuse.

In another incident, a woman from Fort Walton Beach, Florida, was arrested for fatally shooting her infant son. A crew of workers saw a woman standing outside a pickup truck in the parking lot of The Boardwalk on Okaloosa Island with a gunshot wound. They immediately alerted the police. Officers arrived at the scene and found the woman with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to her torso. They then discovered her five-month-old son in the truck.

The boy was pronounced dead at the scene. The mother was taken to a local hospital where she was listed stable.