Grandmother Charged With 2-Year-Old’s Death From Hot Water Burns, Waited Six Days Before Calling Medics

A Texan woman, Patricia Flores, has been charged with the felony murder of her 2-year-old grandson, Lyfe “Gabe” Flores, the Daily Mail is reporting. Patricia Flores was slammed with a murder charge Friday for the death of her grandson.

The toddler had been severely burned by scalding water after his grandmother left him alone in the bathtub. Despite his severe injuries, the 43-year-old woman refused to take the boy to a hospital. Flores only called 911 when the boy started experiencing breathing difficulties and became unresponsive.

“I’ve got a two-year-old who looks like he’s in shock… he’s having trouble breathing. He heaving real bad, his eyes are rolling back… a couple days ago he burned himself. I have been treating him here at home.”

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He died April 4 at a hospital in Dallas.

Speaking to Flores, police knew that the little boy had significant burns on his body. Flores said she had run the hot water to mop the floor and had left the bathroom for a few minutes. She said when she returned, her grandson was laid out on the floor.

According to a court affidavit, Flores initially thought that the boy was asleep. She said the boy had pooped and peed on the floor, and she was beginning to clean it up when she noticed the burns on his hands and legs. Patricia told investigators that her grandson never screamed out in pain, so she did not feel he needed to go to the hospital.

“Flores felt that since she was a trained certified nursing assistant, she could care for Lyfe’s injuries herself and never reported this incident or sought medical care for Lyfe from a doctor.”

The fact that Flores allowed the boy’s health deteriorate for six days before seeking medical assistance is still something the boy’s maternal grandfather, Mike Hamilton, cannot comprehend.

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“That’s probably what angers me and just breaks my heart the most… bad enough it had to happen but to go through the pain for six days before you call medical treatment? There’s no excuse for that.”

By the time Lyfe Flores was taken to the Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth and then transported to the Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas because of the severity of his injuries, it was too late.

Doctors say the lack of medical treatment led to a possible infection that caused the toddler’s death. Hamilton said he saw his grandson at the hospital before he passed, and it was not a pretty sight to see. Hamilton admitted that the neglectful paternal grandmother needed to be punished.

“He’s swollen, he scratched, he’s bruised, he’s burned, he’s burned from his waist down, his hands were burnt… I want her brought to justice and I want everything that she deserves for the law to give her.”

When paramedics arrived at the house, Lyfe was found unresponsive with burns to his genitals, buttocks, hands, and feet. A second child was placed in foster care when Patricia Flores was arrested but later freed on a $75,000 bond.

Lyfe and his younger sister lived with their parents in the Fort Worth axis, but they were taken from the home because their father persistently assaulted their mother and she refused to leave him.

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The children were allowed to stay with the woman’s parents, the Hamiltons, by Child Protection Services. After a few weeks, CPS decided that the children were better off with their paternal grandmother because she was not working and could take care of them throughout the day.

The Hamiltons are now trying to get custody of Lyfe’s younger sister, who is in foster care.

[Featured Image by Peter Mukherjee/iStock]