Posted 2:33 am Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Mother, Boyfriend Charged With Infant's Drowning
By MALENA OGLES
Staff Writer
A young mother and her boyfriend are in jail after being charged with manslaughter in connection with the drowning death of an infant boy who was found face down in a bathtub Saturday morning.
Staff Writer
A young mother and her boyfriend are in jail after being charged with manslaughter in connection with the drowning death of an infant boy who was found face down in a bathtub Saturday morning.
Investigators arrested 21-year-old Elizabeth Marie McMurray of Tyler and her boyfriend, 46-year-old Robert Ray Kassube, at the Tyler Police Department on Tuesday afternoon. The couple came into the police department to obtain a copy of the infant’s autopsy report and were arrested on site without incident.
Both were charged with one count of manslaughter, one count of endangering a child and three counts of manufacturing and delivering a controlled substance.
According to police, 9-month-old Joshua Michael McMurray and his 19-month-old brother were placed in a bathtub at the Abby Apartments located in the 4900 block of Thistle Drive by Ms. McMurray and Kassube then left unsupervised in the bathwater.
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The couple called 911 at around 11 a.m. when they found the 9-month-old unconscious and unresponsive.
“When we investigated the incident on Saturday the statements they made were that they put the two children in the bathwater and then had left them unattended,” said Tyler Police Department Public Information Don Martin.
“As a result of that, (leaving the children unattended) the 9-month-old drown in the bathtub. … We had enough probable cause from their statements to believe they were reckless in their manner, which caused the death of the infant,” Martin said.
The couple told police they could hear the children “making noises.” When the couple no longer heard the children, they entered the bathroom to find the 9-month-old face down in the water.
Tyler Police walk Elizabeth Marie McMurray, 21,of Tyler to the police car in front of the Tyler Police department on Tuesday. McMurray was arrested in relation to the Saturday morning drowning death of 9-month-old Joshua Michael McMurray.
Police said the couple called 911 and Kassube tried to resuscitate the infant before paramedics arrived. The child was transported by ambulance to East Texas Medical Center in Tyler where he was pronounced dead.
Police said the official report from the emergency room’s attending physician ruled the child’s death a drowning.
The body of the 9-month-old was transported to Southwest Forensics Lab in Dallas and police said they are waiting for the autopsy results to corroborate the information from the emergency room physician.
Child Protective Services was called to the apartment on Saturday and took custody Mrs. McMurray’s 19-month-old son.
While at the apartment investigating the infant’s death, Tyler Police Department officers found hundreds of unidentified pills in clear plastic baggies.
“After searching the apartment, we didn’t have a full identification of what they (the pills) were. That is why we didn’t make an on-site arrest on Saturday,” Martin said.
The pills were brought back to the police department where they were classified as a mixture of prescription medications for pain, anxiety and drug addiction. Police also found prescription muscle relaxers and migraine medication.
Police would not comment on whether Ms. McMurray or Kassube were under the influence of drugs or alcohol when the drowning occurred. They also said they are waiting on autopsy results to see if the infant had drugs in his system.
Ms. McMurray and her 9- and 19-month-old sons were living at the apartment with Kassube, who is not the children’s father, at the time of the infant’s death.
“From my understanding, the father was in the military and is returning from Iraq,” Martin said. “I believe they were in the process of separating or getting a divorce.”
Martin said Ms. McMurray did not have a criminal history; however, Kassube was arrested by Tyler police Thursday night for allegedly hitting a box truck on South Broadway Avenue and leading officers on a car chase in southeast Tyler. Officers in patrol cars cornered Kassube in his pickup truck at the intersection of Loop 323 and Paluxy Drive and tasered the man to prevent him from trying to drive away again.
His bonds for evading arrest, possession of a controlled substance, driving while intoxicated and causing an accident involving damage to a vehicle totaled $9,000. He made bond and was released from the Smith County Jail on Friday afternoon.
Martin said bonds are typically set by the type of charges that were filled.
“There was no indication or way of knowing that this was going to happen on Saturday,” he said. “Our hearts go out to the family members that lost this small little boy.”
Ms. McMurray and Kassube were transported to the Smith County Jail with total bonds set for each at $2,300,000 by Smith County 241st District Court Judge Jack Skeen.
