Girl, 6, dies after mom submerged her underwater for 20 minutes, then told cops, ‘I was baptizing my daughter’

February 11, 2025 Sharon Banks

A woman from New York, Karla Espinal, 26, was arrested after her 6-year-old daughter was found unconscious in a bathtub and later died.

According to authorities, Espinal claimed she was”baptizing” her daughter at the time. She has been charged with felony assault and reckless endangerment of a child by New York City police, and she pleaded not guilty in court.

Espinal was remanded without bail.

The incident came to light on February 7, when first responders arrived at Espinal’s Brooklyn home, where she lived with the child’s father and their other children. The little girl was unresponsive and had blood clots in her eyes. She was transported to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The girl’s father, whose name has not been disclosed, texted his manager at 4 p.m. on the same day, roughly an hour after the child’s death, writing in Spanish, “I’m going crazy. I’m here until God gives a miracle. I don’t know what to do.”

At Espinal’s court arraignment, prosecutors revealed that she told police she had been “baptizing” her daughter when the authorities discovered the girl in the bathtub. Espinal was placed on suicide watch and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

Reports suggest that the child may have been submerged for around 20 minutes and struggled to breathe, citing blood clots in her eyes as evidence.