A Texas woman has been accused of whipping her six-year-old stepdaughter with a metal-studded belt as punishment for wetting herself, after which the child died.
Jessica Bundren, 40, was arrested in Bryan on Tuesday and charged with injury to a child stemming from her stepdaughter's death.
The victim was described as having bruises on her face and legs, and welts with puncture marks on her torso.
According to police, officers responded to a home in the 700 block of Garden Acres in Bryan just after 9pm on Tuesday for a report of an unresponsive child.
Bundren, the girl's stepmother, initially told police that the six-year-old had fallen down the stairs earlier that evening and had been sent to bed, reported KHOU11.
Bundren told the officers that she later went to check on the girl and found her not breathing,
Responding officers reported encountering the victim laying on the floor of her bedroom under a sheet.
Police found the victim laying on the floor of her bedroom at the family's home in Bryan, Texas, on Tuesday night
Police officers observed bruises, welts and puncture marks on the child's face and body
They observed visible injuries to her face, head, upper torso and legs.
According to the police, it appeared the child had been struck with a belt, which left her covered in welts and puncture marks.
Under questioning, Bundren allegedly admitted to physically disciplining her stepdaughter for wetting her bed, and then ordering her to sleep on the floor, according to KBTX.
The 40-year-old allegedly told police she whipped the child with a belt a half dozen times - one for each year of her life - but claimed she did not know why her stepdaughter had stopped breathing.
A search of the house turned up a belt that featured metal rivets, which police said were consistent with the puncture marks on the victim's body.
Bundren is being held in the Brazos County Jail on $150,000 bond.
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