ARLINGTON, Texas – A North Texas woman whose boyfriend has been accused of killing her toddler daughter faces charges that she helped bury the body under a bridge, according to police.
Arlington city jail records show 17-year-old Alexis Botello was being held Wednesday on charges of tampering with evidence and injury to a child.
Botello was arrested Tuesday night with bond set at $125,000. She joins 20-year-old Joshua Markus Beard in jail. Beard was arrested earlier on a capital murder charge in the beating death of 18-month-old Tylea Moore.
Police believe the girl was killed Friday in Arlington and her body was buried near Springtown, 40 miles away. Relatives contacted police Sunday when they could not locate the child. Police have said the mother later led them to the body.
Jail records don't list attorneys for the couple.
Botello and Beard were at home in Arlington when an angry Beard began pushing and hitting the child, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. He threw the girl on a bed and repeatedly stomped on her, the affidavit says. She stopped breathing and the couple then tried to resuscitate her.
Botello had initially tried to file a police report claiming that her child was missing.
The baby's father, Chris Moore, defended Botello in an interview with WFAA-TV in Dallas. He said Botello was "a wonderful mother" who was in an abusive relationship and feared for her own life.
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