TLC's Half-Ton Killer? a new documentary reveals the astonishing true
life story of , Texan Mayra Rosales, 31, who testified falsely to murder her two-year-old nephew, Eliseo Jr, by accidentally rolling on top of him while babysitting which proved wrong as her 1,100lb frame, was a rolling stone in her efforts to commit such a gruesome crime as she was unable to move an arm.
The doctors revealed that the boy could only have died from a blow to the
head. Mayra sobbed as she said: “I should be punished, I did wrong.” At the time of breaking the news, many criticized her but the story behind Half-Ton Killer? is at once a crime thriller about sibling loyalty and a medical drama about Mayra's journey from condemnation to freedom in January this year.
After lying to the authorities, Mayra eventually confessed the truth: that she had invented the story to protect her sister Jaime, whom she claimed had struck the boy various times over his body with a hairbrush earlier the same day.
In 2008, shortly before tragedy struck, Mayra and her husband Bernie had moved in to live with sister Jaime in Sullivan City. Jaime had undertaken a full-time role caring for her when Mayra became so large she struggled to walk.
Despite the fact that Mayra was almost entirely bed-ridden, Jaime would often go out, leaving Mayra in charge of her four children. 'I was more of a mother than Jaime,' Mara said in an interview with the UK's Reveal magazine. 'Whenever she wanted to go out or go shopping, she didn’t take the kids. She would always leave them at home with me.'
But events took a horrific turn in March 2008, when Mayra witnessed her sister hit Eliseo Jr. ‘Jaime was giving my nephew breakfast and he didn’t want to eat,’ says Mayra. ‘I told her if he was crying he wasn’t going to eat, but she got mad, got a brush and hit him on his arms, legs and head which left a bump. Afterwards, she got his Winnie the Pooh blanket, covered him up and put him to bed. Then she went out, leaving me with the children.'
Later that day, Eliseo Jr began suffering from breathing problems and Mayra phoned for an ambulance. Jaime phoned her sister from the hospital, sobbing that the police would not let her see her son unless she told them who had hurt him. Jaime begged Mayra to tell the authorities she was responsible for the injuries.
In a move she would come to bitterly regret, Mayra accepted. Mayra was subsequently arrested and charged with capital murder. The story quickly incited a media frenzy with speculation to her guilt flying freely.
But as the trial progressed, the court heard that the fatal injuries sustained by the boy were consistent with a blow to the head and could not have been caused by someone falling on him.
Despite the physical impossibility of Mayra committing such a crime, the authorities had to conduct a full trial, with Mayra as the chief suspect. Months went by before a courtroom was found that was large enough to accommodate Mayra, and doors and walls had to be removed to fit her in.
Finally, Mayra could testify. But as a result of her testimony, Jaime went on the run, leaving Mayra facing the possibility of a death sentence.
As the trial date approached, prosecutors became suspicious at Mayra's account that she fell on Eliseo Jr. Mayra decided at that point to come clean with a confession that would incriminate her sister. Testifying from her bed at home under oath, she admitted that Jaime was behind the abuse.
‘We were all trying to cover for my sister,’ she says. ‘There was abuse from her towards her son. She yelled at him. She kicked him. On that night Junior didn’t want to eat and she got frustrated and she hit him on the head with a hairbrush. I thought I was dying anyway so I decided to admit that I’d done it to protect my sister because I love her.’
A few months later, Jaime was persuaded to return to Texas where she stood trial for her son’s murder. Pleading guilty to the lesser charge of causing injury to a child, she was sentenced to 15 years in jail.
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