A 2-year-old was left unattended inside a daycare van in Eagle Pass for roughly four hours, and now two former employees of the facility are facing felony charges after police say they tried to cover up what happened. The toddler received medical care and is expected to survive, but the case has triggered a criminal investigation spanning three months and multiple state and federal agencies.
The Eagle Pass Police Department identified the arrested employees as 33-year-old Jajaira Maria Hernandez and 46-year-old Samaria Denise Jimenez, both taken into custody this past Friday, according to the Eagle Pass News Leader. Hernandez was charged with state jail felony child endangerment and third-degree felony tampering with physical evidence, with bond set at $50,000. Jimenez was charged with third-degree felony tampering with physical evidence and a Class A misdemeanor for failure to report a felony, with her bond set at $40,000.
The felony tampering and failure-to-report charges point to something beyond simple negligence — investigators found evidence suggesting the two women tried to conceal or alter facts about the incident after the child was discovered, per the same outlet's reporting. As KABB reported, the toddler remained unattended inside the van for about four hours before being found.
A Three-Month Investigation Traces Back to May
The arrests came after an investigation opened in May 2026, when the Eagle Pass Police Department Criminal Investigations Division first learned of the incident, the Eagle Pass News Leader reports. Cases involving evidence tampering and child endangerment often require extended digital and forensic review before charges are filed, and the roughly three-month gap between the incident and the arrests reflects that process.
To execute the arrest warrants, Eagle Pass police coordinated with the U.S. Marshals Service, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the DPS Criminal Investigations Division, the outlet notes. That kind of multi-agency response is common in the border region, where state and federal task forces often assist local departments in serving felony warrants.
Police reported that the 2-year-old was given medical care following the four-hour ordeal in the van and is expected to survive, according to KENS 5. No further details on the child's condition or recovery have been released.
Daycare's License Now Under State Review
Beyond the criminal case, Eagle Pass police announced that investigative findings will be forwarded to Texas state licensing and regulatory authorities for an administrative review that could lead to enforcement action against the daycare facility itself, the Eagle Pass News Leader reports. The Texas Health and Human Services Commission regulates child-care providers statewide and has the authority to levy civil penalties, place a facility on probation, or revoke its license entirely. The name of the daycare involved has not been disclosed, and it remains unclear whether regulators have opened an emergency suspension or inspection process.
Texas law already requires safeguards meant to prevent exactly this kind of incident. Under Texas Human Resources Code Section 42.0424 and 26 Tex. Admin. Code § 746.5625, licensed daycare facilities operating vehicles that seat eight or more people and were purchased or leased after December 31, 2013, must be equipped with electronic child safety alarms that prompt drivers to check the back seats before exiting, according to the Texas Administrative Code. Separately, Texas Health and Human Services Minimum Standards for Child-Care Centers require a staff member to complete a physical walk-through and visually inspect every row and seat to account for all children before disabling that alarm.
South Texas Heat Raises the Stakes
The case unfolds against a backdrop of extreme summer heat in the region. Eagle Pass sees daily highs averaging 99°F to over 100°F in August, and vehicle interior temperatures can spike by 20 degrees in just 10 minutes, according to AccuWeather. Texas leads the nation in pediatric vehicular heatstroke deaths, with 149 child hot-car fatalities recorded between 1990 and 2026, according to data compiled by Kids and Car Safety and reported by FOX 26 Houston.
Eagle Pass has confronted this danger before. In 2018, a 7-month-old infant died after being left inside a car in the city, a death that marked Texas's first pediatric hot-car fatality of that year, according to Checkup Newsroom. That history has kept vehicular heatstroke prevention a persistent focus of public safety campaigns in the community.
