Fugitive Couple Accused of Injuring Child Arrested In Mexico

SAN ANTONIO, TX —A tip to a local tv station led to the arrest of two individuals in a Texas border town wanted by U.S. Marshals for allegedly being involved in a child abuse case.

According to KABB, U.S. Marshals were searching for Anthony Urista and Jasmine Diaz for causing injury to a child and not reporting the abuse, respectively.

In 2017, Diaz took her one-year-old daughter to the hospital claiming the baby had suffered a seizure.

After examining the child medical staff determined the child had injuries not associated with seizures. The baby had bruising to her right leg and eye and a full-body x-ray showed a trail of abuse including a broken leg, arm, and a brain bleed. The baby’s right femur and left arm were also fractured.

The couple was added to the U.S Marshals fugitive list last summer and a tip to a reporter revealed they could be hiding in Piedras Negras.

According to Susan Pamerleau of the U.S. Marshals office,  Diaz had “been in contact with her attorney and she wanted to turn herself in. Her mother had told us or had shared that she was being abused and beaten up and she wanted to turn herself in and come back across the border."

Diaz claimed she had been kidnapped by Urista and was being held at the border town. The U.S. Marshals then coordinated with Diaz to get to the main bridge in Piedras where they took her into custody.

“She arrived in a taxi at the port of entry in Del Rio and she and her two children were taken into custody," said Pamerleau. "Her children were turned over to her mother and so they are safe with her."

Urista was taken into custody with the help of Mexican immigration authorities.

“They picked him up and handed him over to Border Control. They took him into custody and processed him,” said Pamerleau.

Urista and Diaz are currently being held at the Bexar County Jail awaiting their court date.

"It takes the public, it takes people who are, who respect the law. To give us tips, so that we can apprehend fugitives," said Pamerleau. "We had reached beyond Bexar county. We had reached beyond the state of Texas and reached beyond the borders of the United States."