A woman formerly accused of attempting to flush a fetus down a toilet at a Whataburger had her charge dismissed due to insufficient evidence, according to Bexar County court records.
A woman formerly accused of attempting to flush a fetus down a toilet at a Whataburger had her charge dismissed due to insufficient evidence, according to Bexar County court records.
Mallori Patrice Strait, 33, was charged with abuse of corpse without legal authority after she remained in the restaurant’s bathroom for hours until Bexar County deputies arrived and found human-like material in the restroom, records indicate.
Strait and the child were taken to a local hospital, where the child was pronounced dead, an arrest affidavit said.
A motion to dismiss Strait’s charge on May 14 by the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office was accepted by a district court judge, court documents show.
According to the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office, the fetus died in “utero by intrauterine fetal demise.”
The medical examiner’s office was unable to link the cause of death to any particular cause, but their forensic anthropological report estimated the fetus’ gestational period as five to six months, which opposes the expected gestational period of 28 weeks, records show.
Through further examination, the medical examiner’s office determined that Strait experienced a miscarriage, and the fetus was “non-viable.”
The district attorney’s office stated that the fetus suffered skull injuries, but they can commonly happen during miscarriage or birth.
Both the medical examiner’s office and the district attorney’s office believe the damage to the fetus’s skull could not have been caused by suction from a toilet.
Although Strait was accused of being in the restroom for hours, the district attorney’s office said there’s no evidence that there was ever an attempt to flush the fetus down the toilet after the miscarriage happened.
Furthermore, the district attorney’s office said the presence and condition of pregnancy-related elements that were transported with the fetus to the hospital dispute that it was ever flushed after the miscarriage, according to court documents.
The district attorney’s office believes that there’s insufficient evidence that Strait’s “voluntary and knowing conduct damaged the fetus.”
This is a developing story. KSAT will update you once more information becomes available.
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