Texas Mother Charged in Attempted Drowning of Three Children

Jessica Quintana, 39, of Dayton in Liberty County, Texas, was arrested after an early-morning Sept. 29 incident in which she allegedly tried to drown her three children, ages 6, 11 and 15, in a pond and now faces two counts of injury to a child and one count of assault causing bodily injury. Deputies say they found her still in the pond and investigators allege she took the children to the water "with the intent of all of them not surviving." The children's father, Domingo Quintana, called 911 saying his wife had given the children NyQuil he initially said contained vodka; investigators later said no alcohol was involved and have not publicly confirmed whether NyQuil was found. All three children survived, were hospitalized, are now in Child Protective Services custody, and Quintana underwent a mental-health evaluation whose results have not been released. Days later Domingo Quintana was arrested on unrelated animal-cruelty charges after deputies found a neglected cat in the home. Separately, in Mississippi, 36-year-old Amber Goldman was arrested on drug-possession charges after two young boys, ages 2 and 5, were found drowned in a backyard pool; that investigation is ongoing and additional charges are possible.