After 35.75 years, how can they blame it on that? I mean, it's possible that she may have had head injuries while growing up as in, falling off her bicycle or banging her head during gym class in school etc...

I have a hard time accepting that she died 36 yrs after hitting her head at 4 mos. old. There has to be other contributing factors.

I agree with you mike277, there should have been more of an investigation and if conflicting stories where being told someone should have been held accountable. I'd like to know what has happened to the other children and if Texas Child Protection stepped in to make sure they were not being abused also? This story leaves a lot of unanswered questions as most of the news does these days. It's like a game to see how long they can drag us along.

This is why there should be no statute of limitations on child abuse. It may take decades of adulthood before a person is able to come forward with allegations of childhood abuse against a family member, but the judicial system shouldn't enable child abusers by telling them that if they get away with it long enough, they're home free.

And yes, parents and other relatives who know and do not report should be legally liable. How many mothers let their scum boyfriends and new husbands beat, rape, torture, and often murder their children? Those women should be accessories.

patter: Let's not forget American women kill more of their own children than any other mothers in the industrialized world.

Article maternal murder

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42634832/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts

Katty Kay-Morning Joe

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/most-children-who-die-from-abuse...

A four month old slipping on a toy?? Your in heaven now. RIP

Abuse kills. What is wrong with huMANs? No other animal behaves in such a destructive and unnatural way. Isn't it time to do something different? Perhaps it's time for the final gleaning, most of the crop is rotten......

I think she had brain damage from that day on, notice she was in a care facility. She probably never had the chance to ride a bicycle to damage her brain further, so yeah, it was from that incident and at least they got her away from them. Back then the attitude was a little different about child abuse.

NC open heart, animals kill baby animals all the time. It may seem barbaric, but it's not "unnatural". I agree that it's disturbing to see people act in such a destructive manner, but hyperbole and hand-wringing isn't going to help.

Okay everybody. Since this story is extremely lacking in details, I will give more information that I found from the article in Austin:

1. Law enforcement learned of this case from the medical examiner's office after the autopsy was performed. A care manager at the facility said they were aware shaken baby syndrome could have been what Linda suffered from, but never knew that the police had no knowledge of it.

2. Linda was released to CPS custody when she was discharged from the hospital, after their investigation. She had suspicious blunt force trauma injuries that allowed them to remove her from the home, and her mother and siblings had lived with her grandmother at the time.

3. Linda's mother did not even mention anything about her mother until about a month ago, when police visited her home during their investigation. She offered up other possibilities to them first (just as she did when she took the baby to the hospital), and then finally broke down and admitted that she saw her mother shake Linda. She also said that she had been a victim of abuse from her mother when she was a child, but never thought about reporting any of the abuse because things were just not done that way in those days.

4. It's true that child abuse wasn't always reported back then, but CPS now automatically sends a copy of every case to law enforcement, which started in 1989, so cases like this don't happen anymore as they used to.

So. All of a sudden the story makes a lot more sense, but what I'm still wondering is what these brain injuries are SPECIFICALLY that ultimately killed this woman 36 years after the fact. We are now aware of shaken baby and blunt force trauma, but how is it that it became her demise decades later?

Thank you COmommy for the information! Makes more sense now.

How does a 4 month old, WHO CAN'T EVEN WALK YET, slip on a toy? That story alone should have raised red flags!

So sad. In response to some questions as to how can the abuse suffered as a four month old, ultimately kill her at thirty-six? As someone else already said she died in an institution. This implies that the injuries suffered as an infant, left her unable to function in society, let alone ride a bike!!! I am an MA and work in an institution. People with brain injuries due to car accidents,drug abuse, CVA's etc... can not even use a bathroom, feed themselves, or communicate. They have seizures often, need feeding tubes(the brain is too damaged for them to swallow) and the ones who can speak??? The ones who are less damaged and can talk, make absolutely no sense. The brain injured patient will say nonsense jibberish to you, and they have no idea that you can not understand them.

It makes complete sense that the brain injury killed her. She just suffered for 36 years. Beyond sad.

Because, while murder has no statute of limitations, failure to report, if it was even a crime in Texas back then, would be subject to a statute of limitations.

The "mother" had 3 children by the ripe age of 20?!!! That makes a great case for contraception. Responsible parenting at its best!

yah, guitcity, When animals kill their little ones they kill them quickly and for a purpose, they don't abuse them for YEARS.....Duh! But thanks for again showing that the problem with huMANs is that they don't know how to think or love.....

Say what? "Slipped on a toy" at 4 months old? They couldn't tell that was bogus? What infant is there who is walking around at 4 months old? I agree with cookykamp.

And thank you, NC open heart, for showing that you have nothing more to offer than hand-wringing and hyperbole. Yes, people abuse their children and other adults. Yes, I think it is horrific. And all normal, feeling people agree. But, again, just shouting "the crop is rotten" isn't a solution, and it isn't even helpful.

Put it into the "Cold Case, Cold Suspect" files.

I'm not sure if this was updated after your post, but the end of the article reads:

Police detectives decided to clear the case since the person who abused Gatica -- her grandmother -- is no longer alive.

This is Texas. They should dig up the dead grandmother, place it on an electric chair and shock it. This ought to satisfy the Texan principle of executing all murderers.

There's no statute of limitation on murder.

No there is no statute but that generally comes into plaay when their is a murder and they dont find the suspect for however long or many years. But to say head injuries at 4 mo old and at 36 she died of them seems awfully odd. This woman never had problems throughout the rest of her life that she went to a doctor for where they found indication of problems. I have a hard time believing injuries as a 4 mo old, that never emerged before, killed her. I fell and got a Concussion when I was 8 in Gym Class. I am 33 now. Do I need to worry that I may die from those injuries in a few more years? Seems like an awful stretch unless she was diagnosed with something stemming from that which the article didnt state. But thats a long time for that head injury to do something. I dont buy that with the details given. Sure she was abused. But not saying thats what killed her over 3 and a half decades later suddenly doesnt pass the eye test

And mom was 20 at the time with a 4 month old and 3 total children? Seems like a great environment to begin with

What people seem to be neglecting to notice is that she passed away in a care facility. Clearly, her head trauma as an infant, caused permanent brain damage, which then caused a premature death. Thus the "murder". "Shaken Baby Syndrome", the most common form of infant abuse and very likely what they suspect her of, will cause brain hemorrhaging, soft tissue damage (that cannot be cause by normal accidents) brain swelling etc.... The most frequent neurological impairments from those are learning disabilities, seizure disorders, hydrocephalus, cerebral palsy etc…. So, if someone harmed an infant, causing them to have brain damage, which then caused them a premature death, I'd say "murder" is exactly the word they should use.

Deezy92-5352637

You make some excellent points, but please tell me, exactly how one determines "premature death". Do people come with an expiration date stamped somewhere on them at birth?

My mom died when she was 84.... I thought that was premature.

My friends father died at 46.... I thought that was premature.

XDm9mm, are you really arguing that 36 isn't premature? And semantics aside, I'm not sure that it matters how old the person is when they die (or how premature that death might be), if their cause of death is directly attributable to an injury inflicted by another person, no matter how distant in the past, the person who caused the injury can be charged with murder.

I seem to recall a case where a nurse was using dirty needles on patients and some of them caught hepatitis. I can't recall if anyone died from it, but if in thirty years an eighty year old former patient dies from complications of hepatitis, the nurse who caused the infection could be charged with murder.

This seems worse than murder to me--a life of brain damage in a facility. One of my child's classmates is blind because she was shaken as a baby (she has new parents now).

Twisted - how did you read this and think that the woman didn't have problems the rest of her life? She was in the care of the state in a facility her entire life as a result of neurological damage from abuse at 4mos old. She was taken away based on the physical evidence of blunt force trauma. Never released from care, so clearly not self sufficient. Her entire life was a result of the abuse when she was an infant.

I'd go ahead and say that your statement "This woman never had problems throughout the rest of her life that she went to a doctor for where they found indication of problems" is entirely inaccurate.

A child of four months is easily hurt. Since the bones are not osssified, the brain is especially suceptible to damage. Yes. It is entirely possible that the head trauma caused brain damage. It is also entirely plausable that this early trauma could be largely responsible for her early death. Posters seem to be fixated on the number of years that transpired since the initial abuse and I am here as a professional to tell you that once certain damage is done, it is done and can not be reversed. Other systems do not develop properly and the entire system is compromised. The brain does not operate independently from the rest of the body. It actually enables the rest of the body to function. Damage to this organ has far reaching devastating and in many cases insurmountable concequences.

To me, that is tanamount to murder since it sets in motion a series of events that handicap the victim. Nobody has the right to commit these acts...The mother should been held responsible. One can only hope the grandmother is getting what she deserves in the afterlife.

This is not directed at you Meg, but Guitkitty a few posts above you. First there are different kinds of murder, was it premeditated, intented, was it from neglect, should a normal person have known that their actions could cause harm. So your nurse, being a nurse, and knowing that a dirty needle could cause harm, was it an intentional act......Your post doesn't make any sense because you have to be logical and consider all factors involved. Haven't you lived long enough to realize that nothing in life is totally black or white. Your biggest fallacy is you have no idea how that girls life was from 4 months to 37 years. Was she a vegetable, in a vegetative state your organs and muscles atrophies. Hey 9mm nice try at being cute, but you could consider any age to young to die.

Perhaps this woman was also abused by her mother and just simply did not know how to do better. Or felt threatened, or WAS threatened by her mother not to tell the truth or else...

Who really knows though...maybe she was abused & abusive...maybe she blamed it on her mother (the grandmother) because the grandmother was deceased..

what a stupid comment.....!

Kathy Dettwyler

Read articles carefully before commenting on them, please.

I would suggest you take your own admonition. Nowhere does it say she was not returned to her birth mother, nor does it say at what point she was placed in the long term care facility.

Granted, your supposition is likely correct, but without actual detailed information, it is just that, a supposition.

I think the link in the article provides the information Kathy Dettwyler references

and the "mother" should be put down if she's still alive.

I hope the mother didn't breed anymore after that.

Where was Dad in all of this..or Grandpa...or the other set of grandparents?

I don't know. Why do you ask?

peterman, because having both natural parents greatly increases the development and quality of the child. Unfortunately, though much less common those days, our society sees nothing wrong with single parents who have little or no resources for an optimal environment.

Hopefully the "mom" is deceased as well. If not, she should be.

"Greatly increases the development and quality of a child?" I think not.

If you read the articles from Austin newspapers, the Mother told the police last month that grandma "shook" the baby so hard that they ended up in the ER, which was spurred CPS to take the child away from her.

Apparently, when the police investigated last month Mom first lied - again - and then admitted what had happened when police continued investigating.

And Jan... oh my. "natural parents" only? So adoptive and step-parents just can't raise high "quality" children? Seriously? So mothers or fathers who are widowed are just SOL - if they marry someone else that person isnt the "natural parent" and if they don't, its impossible to "greatly increase the development and QUALITY of a child" I am actually a little amazed by your statement.

What amazes me is there was a child with blunt force trauma - a 4 mos old infant ! - with permanent brain damage, and mom kept her kids with the person that did that to her baby. WTF.

Doc, sorry, I meant quality of life... and if you need references, I can get them. What are you basing your opinion on? I had to do an undergrad project in which my topic was intelligence and poverty, so I know a tiny bit about the subject.

CAT... I did not say natural parents only. Boyfriends and stepparents increase the likelihood of abuse and death substantially (How Children Develop, Siegler et al).

CAT, can you explain what you mean by amazed? I'm sorry about omitting "of life" from quality, does that change anything?

You don't think that a child is in it's optimal environment with both parents? Obviously, sh!t happens and families do split up, but why would someone choose to have children without any support or resources? Lack of good childcare, a stable environment, permanent caregivers, and stimulation such as music and dance, as well as sports participation are all things that are more difficult for the single parent to provide. Of course, love is important, but all these factors give stimulation to the child's development.

DOCJT then you think wrong. A mulitude of facts, read that again as the scientific research and conclusions and facts dispute your statement. All the evidence points to a two parent household being far superior in raising a child. For one thing they may not have had to live with grandma.

I totally agree. I think it was the young mother who shook the baby. Sounds like grandma was already dead when she "broke down" and claimed her mother had done it.

Damn...Geddy Lee? Thanks for puttin great music in my head with your boardname!

We have mandatory reporting. It is unfortunate indeed, that mandatory reporting was not available to this woman when she was brutalized.

hank, My sympathies go to you. Thank God you are alive. I was brought up by an abusive mother and a stepfather who did nothing to stop it. I had and still have paranoid feelings. It's a cross to bear.

Hank - - I feel for the child you were and the adult you are now. You lost your childhood and now you feel lost as an adult. But as Marilee says, thank goodness you are alive today. You control your own destiny now; dig deep and take pride in yourself and what you can offer this world. Thank you for sharing your comments.