Inset: Skylynn Tuerk (McLennan County District Attorney’s Office). Background: The hotel where Tuerk’s infant starved to death in Waco, Tex. (Google Maps).
A Texas mother will spend several decades behind bars for allowing her 3-month-old baby boy to starve to death at a hotel in Waco.
On Thursday morning, Skylynn Tuerk, 34, pleaded guilty to one count each of murder, injury to a child, endangering a child, and possession of methamphetamine, a controlled substance.
In turn, 54th District Court Judge Susan Kelly sentenced Tuerk to 40 years in prison for the murder charge, 40 years for the injury to a child charge, and two years apiece for each of the remaining charges. Her sentences were assessed to run concurrently, meaning they will run at the same time. She will be eligible for parole after serving at least 20 years.
The defendant will also receive credit for 633 days spent in pretrial detention, the court determined.
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“We are grateful that this Defendant accepted responsibility and received a sentence in the upper end of the punishment range, while also removing the risks inherent in the trial and appeals process,” McLennan County Assistant District Attorney Tara Avants said in a statement provided to Waco-based ABC affiliate KXXV. “Legally, there is only a 10-year difference between a life sentence and a 40-year sentence. The horrific and irresponsible nature of this Defendant’s behavior left us unwilling to agree to any lower punishment.”
The behavior in question came to light on Nov. 29, 2023.
Police were called to the New Road Inn, a hotel located along the frontage road of Interstate 35. There, the infant Jacob Jeremiah Amon Harris was found dead — the result of prolonged starvation.
Responding to a call about an unresponsive child, the boy was described as “starving and looking like a skeleton,” according to court records obtained by Waco-based CBS and Telemundo affiliate KWTX.
In local media accounts, the victim was widely referred to as “Baby JJ.”
In the filthy quarters, police rescued Baby JJ’s then-3-year-old sister. At the scene of the crime, officers described finding cockroaches, raw meat, knives and swords, and drugs in a backpack.
In January 2024, Tuerk and the boy’s father, Charles Devin Harris, 28, were indicted on multiple counts related to Baby JJ’s death.
The investigation into the family was brought on by a third party making a report about the child’s welfare to Child Protective Services.
The CPS caller expressed concerns Baby JJ had not put on enough weight since his birth and described Tuerk as “nonchalant” about the issue. Meanwhile, Harris is alleged to have been “playing video games the entire time” the other person was in the room.
Arriving the next day — and by then too late — officers described the family as living in “unclean and dangerous” conditions, noting the bladed weapons were “within the reach of the 3-year-old girl.”
Officers also said there was no “real food for the children” kept in the “unsanitary” hotel room “and there was no baby formula for Jacob,” according to court documents. Rather, police alleged, the “only food found for the children were a couple of juice boxes and fruit snacks.”
The father’s case is still in the pretrial stage.
Tuerk’s defense attorney provided a statement to local multiple media outlets after the sentencing hearing.
“This was a tragic situation, and Skylynn was devastated by the loss of her child,” Jonathan Sibley said. “Skylynn and her family still grieve for the loss of their child, but are pleased to put this part of the process behind them. Skylynn and her family not only lost a loved member of their family, but, this family will also have to deal with losing Skylynn for a period of time while she is incarcerated. Skylynn’s family was represented in court today to support Skylynn and I’m sure they will continue to support her in any way they can while she is incarcerated.”
The post ‘Looking like a skeleton’: Mom ‘nonchalant’ as 3-month-old baby boy starved to death in ‘unclean and dangerous’ roadside hotel filled with weapons and cockroaches first appeared on Law & Crime.
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Author: Colin Kalmbacher
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