A Houston mother has been arrested after police say she intentionally dropped her 17-month-old daughter from a hotel balcony in Galveston.
Police responded to reports of an abandoned child around 9:45 a.m. on Wednesday. Upon arrival, police found the child, identified as Hannah Yonko, bleeding on the pavement. Emergency responders determined she needed life-saving care and began administering treatment. She was later transported to the trauma center at UTMB Galveston.
However, she was pronounced dead at about 10:30 a.m., shortly after arriving at the hospital.
Three puncture wounds were found on Hannah’s body, a probable cause affidavit states. An officer later found her mother, Channel Yonko, 30, crying and asking for help. She began making comments about her daughter and said she might have been sick. Yonko was then taken by police for further questioning.
Her sister, Mercedes Yonko, told police she was sharing a hotel room with her at the Beach Front Palms Hotel. Channel had traveled to Galveston to spend time with her sister. Mercedes said Channel had sole custody of her daughter.
On the day of Hannah’s death, the sisters met up at another location. Mercedes said she saw Channel pushing a stroller. She thought Hannah was inside the stroller when she saw her sister but later told police she never actually saw the baby. Still, she said she had no reason to doubt the baby wasn’t in the stroller.
Mercedes said she wanted to go back to the hotel room but Channel told her not to.
Channel reportedly told her sister “don’t go back to the hotel” several times. Mercedes said she found it odd that Channel would say that.
While searching through a parking garage at the hotel, two officers found a trash bag in a garbage bin with a key card, a “skinning” knife with a black handle, plastic sand toys, unused diapers and unopened kids snacks. Police later found footage of Channel in the hotel lobby pushing the stroller.
Another piece of footage showed Hannah falling from the third floor and landing in the grass before rolling onto the concrete sidewalk where she was found.
Channel has been charged with capital murder. She is being held at the Galveston County Jail without bond. An attorney for her was not listed.
“This is a horrible crime. All children deserve to feel safe when around loved ones, especially with their own mother,” said Galveston Police Chief Doug Balli.
“No one ever wants to make this call. No first responder ever wants to respond to the scene of a child who is an infant that is so injured that they may not make it.”
