Tarrant County court records from 2021 show the woman pleaded guilty to abandoning or endangering a child, a state jail felony.
Tarrant County court records from 2021 show the woman pleaded guilty to abandoning or endangering a child, a state jail felony.
Tarrant County court records from 2021 show the woman pleaded guilty to abandoning or endangering a child, a state jail felony.
FORT WORTH, Texas — A 38-year-old mother who died after intentionally driving into the Trinity River and killing her 1-year-old son pleaded guilty in 2021 to trying to push another child off of a bridge, court records show.
According to Tarrant County court records, the woman, Melanie Robinson, pleaded guilty to abandoning or endangering a child, a state jail felony. She was placed on deferred adjudication community supervision for 10 years.
A document from a Fort Worth police officer states that Robinson, on June 5, 2021, placed the child in danger by trying to push him off a bridge or trying to convince him to jump off a bridge.
Robinson was pronounced dead on March 25 in the hospital, three days after police said she drove into the Trinity River with her son in the vehicle.
Fort Worth Fire Department crews used boats equipped with SONAR and found the child’s body in the river and recovered the body on March 23, officials say. Police confirmed to WFAA that the child’s death was ruled a homicide “due to the totality of the circumstances in the investigation.”
“The driver intentionally drove into the water,” police said in a statement. “We are not at liberty to say what family members, witnesses, and any possible medical history may have been shared with investigators.”
Police told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that if the mother had survived, she’d have been arrested and charged on a complaint of capital murder of a person under 10 years old.
It’s unclear how police determined the cause of the child’s death.