22-year-old Kristina Marie Earnest, of Vernon, Texas, doled out a beating that a gangland thug would have been proud of. She wasn’t collecting a debt from some unfortunate deadbeat, though. She was pummeling her own child. The little girl had cuts and bruising on the liver. We’re talking about a five-year-old girl with internal injuries caused by the very person that child should have seen as a protector. What kind of a life did this girl have knowing that her sole protector was the source of so much physical and mental terror? The kinds of injuries this child suffered would be expected from heartless strangers, not a little girl’s own mother. Blunt force trauma to the head. Blunt force trauma to the neck. Blunt force trauma to the child’s arms and backside. Kristina Earnest beat her own child so bad that the little girl’s body could take no more. Kati Chantelle Earnest, only five years old, was dead from her own mother’s hands –hands that had been clinched into fists.

July 4 was Independence Day here in America. Little Kati died and now, in a way, she is free from the violent life she endured in her own home. On that day, Kristina Earnest and her boyfriend, Tommy Castro, brought the little girl into the hospital. It was about 11:40 PM. Of course, it was too late. The couple knew that. Kati was pronounced dead at 12:01 AM on July 5.

The two, Earnest and Castro, cooked up a cowardly lie so that they wouldn’t have to face the consequences of their actions. Sometimes people go to jail for killing little kids. But, if the two were found guilty, we wouldn’t beat them to death. Still, it only proves the cowardice of those who beat up children. They told the workers at the emergency room at Wilbarger County General Hospital that they found little Kati face down in the bathtub. They said she had drowned.

The people at the hospital noticed that the dead girl was covered in bruises. They contacted law enforcement. Police arrived at the hospital a little after midnight on July 5. The child’s body was taken to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s office in Fort Worth. The authorities were going to get to the bottom of the situation. After preliminary reports came back, Kristina Earnest was arrested on July 7. She admitted to striking the child with her closed fists about five times. As harsh and brutal as that confession sounded, it appears to be a gross understatement. Kristina Earnest has been charged with capital murder. She was locked up in the Wilbarger County jail on a $250,000 bond. If convicted she can face life in prison or the death penalty,either of which would be quite merciful in light of her actions.

On July 10, 41-year-old Tommy Castro was charged with two counts of injury to a child. Authorities stated that the charges do not mean that he actually harmed the child, but that he knew she was being abused and did not report the crime. In fact, the charges against Castro aren’t even in relation to Kati’s death, but to the abuse of her little brother. Authorities have found bruises on that child, as well, along with other evidence showing that the boy was also being abused. That child and another sibling are now in the custody of Child Protective Services.

While authorities in Wilbarger County are just now seeing the signs of abuse (and much to late, I might add), it seems that authorities in Amarillo, Texas, where Kristina and her children used to live, already knew that things weren’t right in the household. In 2006, Kristina was investigated by CPS for physically neglecting Kati. Kati’s hygiene and Kristina’s parenting had been questioned. CPS closed the case. They couldn’t find any evidence of neglect. Then, last September, the little boy was thought to have a burn on his back. CPS was called again. Doctor’s said it was merely some sort of allergic reaction. Nothing to be alarmed about. CPS states that almost 70% of their calls are deemed bogus due to lack of evidence.

Kati’s funeral was yesterday.

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3. Lee K. Ponshe Jr. Beat a Baby to Death
4. Troy Barrett: Prom Night Escort and Child Rapist
5. Murder Charges Against Eli’s Mom & Her Boyfriend