GUILTY TX - Tylea Moore, 1, Arlington, 6 July 2014 *Arrests*

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Woman accused of watching while boyfriend killed her baby is a victim, attorney says

Joshua Beard would go on to beat Tylea, eventually killing her on another holiday — July 4, 2014. Beard was sentenced to life in prison for capital murder in April.

Now, Alexis Botello, 21, is on trial for the same charge, and for tampering with evidence.

Prosecutors allege that Botello stood by while Beard murdered her child.​

An arrest warrant says on that day, Beard pushed and yelled at Tylea. Botello screamed at him, but Beard kept hitting the child. Then he picked up Tylea, whom he called the “little demon,” according to the warrant, and threw her so hard on a bed that she bounced off and landed on the floor, where Beard repeatedly stomped her on her stomach.

They said Botello helped Beard to bury Tylea in the 1900 block of Sarra Lane in a rural part of Parker County, near Springtown. Her body was found under a bridge.​

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Mother who watched as her boyfriend beat, stomped toddler to death gets life sentence for murder | Courts | Dallas News

A North Texas woman who watched as her boyfriend beat and stomped her 18-month-old daughter to death in 2014 was found guilty Friday of capital murder.

Because of her age at the time, Alexis Botello, 21, received an automatic life sentence. Botello also was convicted of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence and sentenced to 10 years on that count.​

Mom who stood by while 18-month-old was killed found guilty of capital murder

Prosecutors said on Thursday that their case against Botello wasn’t about her physically assaulting the child. There’s no evidence of that. Their case against Botello was that as a mother, she “had legal duties to prevent what happened” and failed to get her daughter medical attention.

<snipped>

“What’s your responsibility in this death?” Westmoreland asked Botello.

“Not getting help,” Botello said. She later agreed with Westmoreland that she chose to put Tylea in a dangerous situation.

“You realize you could have prevented her death, right?” Westmoreland asked.

“Yes ma’am.”​

 

[JusticeWillBeServed]

Murder of Tylea Moore ‘probably the worst child death we’ve seen in Tarrant County’

At 18 months old, little Tylea Moore had more than 15 times the number of physical injuries inflicted on her by Joshua Beard than her grown mother Alexis Botello did, according to medical examinations.

When Arlington police interviewed Botello, then 17, after Tylea was found dead on July 4, 2014, Botello had three or four bruises on her body. In contrast, “Tylea had about 70 injuries and about five or six of those were fatal,” said Melinda Westmoreland, who along with Tiffany Burks prosecuted Botello for capital murder last week.

“This is probably the worst child death we’ve seen in Tarrant County,” Westmoreland said on Wednesday. “It wasn’t one time, it was over at least a span of two weeks. She’s pretty much being tortured and it’s amazing that she lived as long as she did.”

“Tiffany (Burk) and I weren’t contesting that (Beard) was anything but terrible, there’s no question about that,” Westmoreland said. “The bigger issue was there were several opportunities before (Botello) moved in and while she was there that she could have gotten her daughter out of that situation.”​