Child dies from heat-related injuries at flea market, mother charged

August 03, 2009 10:56 AM
By LAURA B. MARTINEZ, The Brownsville Herald
A Brownsville child is dead and her mother remains jailed on charges of abandoning or endangering a child after the little girl died at a local hospital from heat-related injuries.

Four-year-old Felicitas Alexandra Cordova apparently fell asleep in the family’s Ford Expedition while it was parked at the Flea Market on Expressway 77/83 on Sunday, Brownsville police Lt. Orlando Rodriguez said.

The family ran three booths at the flea market.

Olga Salazar, 37, her mother and an undocumented immigrant, has been arraigned on one count of abandoning or endangering a child. Her bond was set at $20,000 and she is expected to be transferred to a Cameron County jail today.

“There was some confusion and the family loss track of her (Felicitas,)” Rodriguez said.

Although emergency services personnel and several citizens performed cardio pulmonary resuscitation on Cordova while at the flea market, she died shortly after at Valley Regional Medical Center, Rodriguez said.

Authorities estimate the temperature in the vehicle was at about 100 degrees.

It is not known how long the child had been in the sport utility vehicle before she was found.

For more information, read Tuesday's The Brownsville Herald.