Almost one year since the grim discovery of a deceased newborn in the back of a garbage truck in Northwest Harris County, charges have been filed against the mother, Catherine Nicole Innes. Innes, 23, faces a charge for tampering with evidence, specifically a human corpse, as reported by Click2Houston. Following the incident on August 14, 2024, in the 13200 block of Fountain Crest Drive, trash workers stumbled upon the heartbreaking scene which led to a rather distressing investigation.
According to the Harris County Sheriff's Office, the baby, Jesus Martinez, was found around 9:30 a.m. in an area not far from where Innes resides, on Fountaincrest Court in the Chimney Hill subdivision. The sheriff's office indicated that the boy, found partially crushed and in the early stages of decomposition, may have been from one day to one month old. These unsettling details were revealed by ABC13, which also noted that the trash collectors had been running the trash compactor.
Court documents quoted by Click2Houston allege that Innes gave birth to the infant at home. Upon realizing that the baby wasn't breathing, panic set in, and she placed the child inside a trash bag. The bag, along with its tragic contents, was then discarded in an outside garbage bin, where it remained for about three days before being collected by waste management staff.
Innes appeared in court yesterday evening, facing the repercussions of those fateful days last August. ABC13 detailed that Innes told authorities she passed out after giving birth in the shower and, upon waking, found her son was not breathing. The events were set in motion after placing the infant in the trash bag with her nightgown and some towels, all bloody, and depositing the bag in the outdoor trash can. In court, she was assigned a bond set at $50,000.
