Twin Babies Drown in Tub While Babysitter Sleeps for 30 Mins
“But both of the babies are deceased. You left them unattended in the bathtub. It doesn’t matter if you were supposed to be or not. You did. And you are the one that placed them in the bathtub.”
“Got the water ready. And then I went to the room next door.”
“You said you heard screaming. Tell me about that.”
“I heard Charlotte screaming. They were brown, purple, and I just grabbed them and started doing the Heimlich.”
On October 16th, 2024, in Odessa, emergency responders were dispatched to a residence where two one-year-old twins were found unresponsive inside of a bathtub. The children had been left in the care of their babysitter, Joan Reyes de Jesus. Despite rapid response from first responders and medical staff, both children were later pronounced deceased at the hospital.
What initially appeared to be a tragic accident quickly drew scrutiny. Early findings pointed to a prolonged lapse in supervision. While conditions inside the bathroom suggested the tub had been filled with water while the children were unattended, investigators began focusing on the exact timeline—specifically how long the children were left alone and what actions led up to that moment.
In the interrogation that follows, detectives work to reconstruct those critical minutes. As the account unfolds, subtle inconsistencies begin to emerge. Details that, when compared against physical evidence, would ultimately shape the direction of the case.
“Okay. So, um, like I said, I’m Detective Hughes with the Odessa Police Department,” the detective began. “Okay. Um, I’m assisting on the investigation and the babies.”
“Okay. I don’t have any information on that right now.”
“Okay. We’re just dealing with a lot of moving parts trying to figure out kind of what’s going on. And that’s what I want you to fill me in on. Okay. Now, before we get started, okay, Joan, every time that I talk to people, um, I’m always straightforward and I’m always honest. Okay? So, I’m not going to try to trick you. I’m not going to tell you anything that’s untruthful, and that’s why I don’t want to tell you anything I don’t know for certain. Right.”
“Okay.”
“Okay. So, before we get started, um, I want to be first and foremost… I want you to be aware of your rights. All right. Now, do you understand all those rights that you have?”
“Okay.”
“Um, with that being said, are you willing to waive those rights and speak to me in reference to today’s investigation?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Sounds good. We’re still just trying to kind of figure out what’s going on, what happened, everything that led up to today. All right. So, start from the beginning. Kind of tell me about this.”
“So, I woke up and the twins were crying and I took their diapers off.”
“Who are the twins? Fill me in on the twins. Okay.”
“Um, honestly, I’m like… now I’m just so messed up.”
“Okay. Describe it to me. How old are they?”
“They just turned one yesterday.”
“Okay. All right. So, you woke up. What time do you think you woke up?”
“Charlotte and Hazel. I can remember… Charlotte and Hazel. Okay.”
“I don’t know. It’s like 10:40.”
“Woke up at 10:40 something this morning.”
“10 something. And you said they’re crying.”
“They were crying.”
“Okay. And then I let Braden in the room with his mom.”
“Okay.”
“And then I went and took their diapers off and I put them in the tub. I took everything out. All that was in there was the toys, and I left the water running.”
“Okay.”
“And then I went to the room next door.”
“Okay.”
“Screaming.”
“Was mom sleeping?”
“No, she was awake.”
“She was awake.”
“Everybody was awake.”
“Okay. I haven’t been there. So, describe to me the bathtub. Is it like a big Jacuzzi tub? Is it?”
“No, it’s a… it’s a regular-sized tub.”
“Okay. Like a regular-sized tub that can be used as a shower.”
“I didn’t put no towels in there ’cause usually I put a towel so it can fill up… and I turned it off. I didn’t. There’s a toy and a big rubber band stuck in… like a hair tie, but those big ones… was stuck in there.”
“Okay. Like a scrunchie.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Okay. So, you used a scrunchie to…”
“I took… I took… there was… and then there’s like these finger toys, I think, for their fingers to play with, and that was in there as well.”
“Okay. So…”
“And I think that’s what stopped the water.”
“Okay. You know what I mean? When you go to put them in there, um, do you plug the tub from the beginning and turn on the water or…”
“No, I didn’t plug it in.”
“Okay.”
“I didn’t plug it in. There was a bunch of toys in there.”
“Okay. And at this point, is the water just going straight down the drain?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.”
“But whenever I went to go take the water out, you know, there was a toy, a little orange finger toy, and then there was a black scrunchie.”
“Okay. And then you go to the other room?”
“Yeah. The room right next door.”
“Okay. How long were you in that other room?”
“I was watching TV.”
“Okay. If you had to estimate, are we talking, uh, like five minutes? Are we talking 15 minutes?”
“Maybe an hour. Okay. Maybe like 20 minutes.”
“Okay. And so you think the water is just running straight down. What would be the purpose of it running straight down? You know what I mean? Like, what would be the purpose of putting them in the tub if you didn’t…”
“‘Cause they play with the toys all the time.”
“Okay. So they’re just in there to play.”
“Yeah.”
“And the water’s just running straight down.”
“Yes.”
“Okay. Are they supposed to be bathing during this time or they’re just playing? Okay. So they’re just there to play.”
“I bathe them every morning.”
“What’s that?”
“I bathe them every morning.”
“You bathe them every morning. Okay. Was this a day that you were going to bathe them? Was that your intent with this?”
“Well, I just put them in there ’cause they had poop. So, I was just letting them like, sit and let the water run.”
“Okay. So, they had poop on themselves and then you said you heard screaming. Tell me about that.”
“I heard Charlotte started screaming and then the babies were laying on the bed. Their lips were all purple and I just grabbed them and started doing the Heimlich.”
“Okay. And you said that when you went in there, there was a scrunchie and a toy. Was this afterwards or when you heard the screaming? When did you see the scrunchie in the…”
“Afterwards.”
“Afterwards. Okay. So, after she had already taken the babies out. This is after you did the Heimlich that you said. Okay. Did that scrunchie and toy stop the tub?”
“Okay. And you said normally you use a towel whenever you’re going to plug it. What was the scrunchie in the bathtub for?”
“Probably one of the kids there. All the kids bathe in that tub.”
“Okay. ‘Cause she has two older ones.”
“Okay.”
“She bathes in there as well.”
“At the time that you put the kids in the bathtub, you said the mother was awake and she was in the bedroom, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. And you had put Braden in there with her?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.”
“Her door should have been open.”
“Who, at that time… who did you think was watching the kids? Would that have been you at that time?”
“Okay. Do you normally leave them in the tub for that period of time?”
“No.”
“Okay. How did it happen?”
“That’s when I moved. I dozed off. I was tired. I was up with the other kids till about 4 in the morning.”
“Okay. All right.”
“Yeah. The two girls. I was up with them till about 4. Yeah. 4 or 5, and I dozed off.”
“Just you and…”
“Okay.”
“Okay. How long do you think you dozed off for? Is that why you’re not sure of the time period?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. All right. That’s fair.”
“I was asleep for 30 minutes, because if… without… if I have my phone I could tell you the times, ’cause I got up and I check on my phone and it was like 10:31. She was in front of the door and I unlocked her door and I let her in and she told me something. I remember what she said, and I was like, ‘Well, I got to get my babies to call me,’ which I always say that whenever they start crying. ‘My babies are calling me,’ and I was like, ‘You stink.’ And I took one diaper off and I put her in there and the water’s running and ready and got her in. I didn’t put nothing in. It was just toys. I went and got the other toys and I dressed her through the… there’s a bag of trash right by the door and to the dryer right in there, and I put her in the tub.”
“Okay.”
“And then I made sure that the water was running out. I do this every day. I’ve been watching them for 3 years.”
“Yeah.”
“I know this. I’m not stupid. And I went to the other room and I started watching Abbott Elementary, and I dozed off for a little bit. But like I said, I…”
“Okay, I’m always watching them.”
“Nobody… nobody thinks that you did anything intentionally.”
“Who does she like… what did you do? Okay.”
“Well, when people are worried and when people are shocked and taken back, um, you know, sometimes they say things that they don’t mean or they say things out of anger, concern. All right. So, do you normally live there at the home?”
“Literally, like, she picks me up from my house and she’s like, ‘I’m going to bring you home after I get off from work.’ And then she keeps me in a room. She’s like, ‘Hey, like, I’m honestly with the kids a long time.’ I haven’t celebrated anything in 3 years. I don’t do nothing. It’s just there.”
“Tell me about this, um, scrunchie. Can you describe it to me?”
“Scrunchie. I haven’t seen this in like a long time, but I always came from, to be honest.”
“Okay. All right. So, a black scrunchie hair tie.”
“Yeah, I think it came out of Madison’s hair ’cause she’s the only one that leaves and comes back ’cause we have these. We use these or the little plastic ones.”
“Okay. And this one is more fluffy.”
“Yeah, I’ve never seen… I’ve literally never seen this.”
“And you said that it was with a…”
“It was like those little finger toys, the aliens.”
“Okay.”
“If you go to the house, there’s a bunch there. They’re all over the floor. And, um, I just seen that little orange toy had been crammed, and I was like, ‘This is what was plugging it up.’ When I picked up the toy, I felt something in there, and there was a freaking scrunchie.”
“All right. So the scrunchie somehow got stuck in the tub and then the orange toy on top of it.”
“Okay. And you said it’s like an orange alien toy.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay.”
“It should be right there on the side of the tub ’cause I just grabbed it and threw it.”
“Okay. How heavy was the water running? The flow to me? Was it like a low flow? Was it…”
“The flow? Pretty fast.”
“Okay. So, going out pretty fast. Okay.”
“Yeah. Like they always freaking… the bigger kids, they turn them on and overflow the tub all the time, but they’re always freaking jumping in and out.”
“Okay. When you put them in there, was your plan to go back and bathe them?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“Um, they had the soap and everything on the side, like they had a towel right there.”
“You think that one of the twins put that scrunchie in the…”
“What’s that?”
“They’re only one year old.”
“Yeah.”
“They stick everything in their mouth. You think there’s a possibility that you put the scrunchie in to plug them?”
“No.”
“You know, with plans of going back and…”
“No. No. Like I said, I’ve never seen the scrunchies. So, how…”
“Okay.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Okay. Can you describe to me this, um, this orange alien toy? Like with a size or a shape?”
“It’s like a finger toy. I don’t know. Grandma’s always like…”
“Like, how long is it? If you had to give me a length.”
“I think it’s like that big.”
“Okay. And how wide is it?”
“The size of a finger.”
“Size of a finger. Okay. So, you said you hear the screaming, she’s got the babies on the bed. You go over and you try to help with them as you described. Then you go back into the bathroom and you see that the water is… Is it overflowing at this point? Okay. Um, is the water still on?”
“I don’t think so.”
“No. Okay. And then…”
“Wait.”
“Okay. The water’s off at this point.”
“It just ran that way.”
“No, it wasn’t. I turned it off.”
“Okay. So, it’s still running at this point.”
“Yeah.”
“So, the water’s still running. Did you remove those items from the drain?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I told you I threw them on the side.”
“And you said you threw them on the side?”
“Yeah, of this tub.”
“On the side of the tub. Okay. So, is there like a lip on the side of the tub?”
“No. Okay. Okay. So, it’s a small bathroom. You walk in, there’s a cabinet in the room, there’s a toilet, and then there’s a tub and that’s it. I always have like a towel ’cause I kneel right there and I bathe them. So right here in the corner I have the soap and then I have some towels and stuff, and that’s… I just grab them and throw them right there outside of the tub.”
“Has anything like this ever happened before? Have you, um, ever dozed off while they’re playing in the water?”
“No. Like I say all the time, and anybody in the world can tell you, my children have life. Those are basically my kids. That’s when you put him in the room.”
“No, he was already… and he was already in the front of the house.”
“Okay. ‘Cause you said you woke up at about 10:40, then you… and then you just opened the mom’s door.”
“Okay. Put him in there.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. When you think back, you said that she said something to you.”
“Yeah. I don’t know what she said. I just told her.”
“All right. Is she normally awake at this time?”
“No, she should have been.”
“Okay. ‘Cause I’m supposed to be resting in the morning.”
“How long have you… you said three years? Since they were born?”
“Since 20 years. You take care of Charlotte and Hazel their whole life.”
“Yes. Okay.”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. Since they were born, honestly, I’ve watched all the kids. Even her oldest one when she was eight. Since they’re all born, I’ve been there.”
“Yeah. Was there anybody else in the house other than her and Carlos?”
“Carlos. Her brother.”
“Okay. What was Carlos doing this time?”
“I thought he was asleep, to be honest.”
“Is he ever assisting in caring for the kids?”
“No. I didn’t text anything. All right. Including Charlotte. Yeah. Okay. They just act anyway.”
“Okay. That’s okay. You can tell me. I mean, it’s stressful. It’s stressful.”
“It’s stressful because why are you going to have those kids? Why am I having to… I understand, but I leave my mom there just… what happened, she let me leave that day. She was like, ‘Watch the kids,’ and I think I’m getting married tomorrow, that’s crazy. On my birthday. I went to her job ’cause she wants my dad. I went to her job and I had two drinks with my mom and my husband. My sister’s going to watch the kids. I haven’t done nothing in the past years. Nothing. I have to go to El Paso with my husband on the 28th. I have a post-freaking interview with our lawyer on the 21st. Like, I’m stressing my heart. And then you went to your lawyer for my husband. My brother went to jail for something that I knew was going to do. Okay. And then I just got the papers and they dismissed it. So…”
“Oh, okay. Okay. You said that she works at, um… bartends. What does she do there?”
“She’s the manager.”
“The manager, bartend.”
“Well, she’s like a bartender and a server, but she’s like a shift manager.”
“Okay. I think… what are her hours that she normally works?”
“Five to one.”
“So you provide all this childcare for the family. How do they pay? Do they pay by the hour or do they…”
“Um, like $80.”
“I think $80 for what?”
“Like from 5 to whatever, like $80.”
“Okay. From 5 till she gets home.”
“Okay. So then in the morning when you’re there, you stay the night.”
“Well…”
“Are you getting paid? So in the morning basically she just has me living in there because I’m always there and just like, I can eat and stuff, shower, you know.”
“Okay. All right. So in… kind of in exchange for living expenses, kind of thing.”
“Yeah. Okay.”
“So you get paid for the hours of 5 to 1, and then in between then you kind of just help out in return for exchange of living expenses. Okay. Um, well, let me step out. Uh, do you need any more water or anything?”
“No. Can I get a soda?”
“A soda? I don’t know if we have any, but I’ll check and see what I can find. Okay. All right. I’ll be back.”
“I got another question for you. Okay. So, I know that you said that, um, you had put towels out. You had mentioned that you had put towels out ’cause you were going to bathe them, right? Okay. Can you do me a favor and draw for me the bathroom, like where the tub is, where the towels were, those things? Draw the bath, like the whole bathroom, like just kind of showing me where things are. Okay. And then show me where the water comes up.”
“Okay. So then there’s a tub holder right here.”
“Is that on the floor?”
“Yes. So…”
“What color is this towel?”
“Pearl pink. White.”
“Is it a… like a bath towel? Is it like a shower…”
“It’s a shower towel.”
“Okay. Like a shower towel. And then like… like you dry your body with, that kind.”
“Yes. Okay. And there was a green little, like a diaper towel. There was a gray bathtub towel. And all this is outside of the bathtub.”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“And there was a men’s wash. Men’s wash, which I have grabbed the tub and put it in there ’cause I have filled it up with a different soap. And there was a bunch of toys in the tub already. There was like a bowl, a black bowl. Then there was a bunch of little toys everywhere in the tub.”
“Were there any, um, towels in the tub?”
“No, there were, um, right here inside.”
“Is it on the side of the tub or on the outside?”
“On the side.”
“Okay. So if… if a tub, say like this is a tub, right? And this is the water part and then there’s… this is the part that you step over. Are the towels on that?”
“Yeah. On the corner. Okay. There was like one.”
“Okay. And they’re hanging on there.”
“Yeah.”
“Just sitting on there or hanging?”
“They’re there.”
“Okay. The reason I asked is when the officers got there, there was a blue towel still plugging the drain.”
“There’s no blue towel. There’s no blue towels in there. So, I know that’s a lie. They can take a picture. There’s no blue towels there. A green one and a green one. No.”
“Okay. And I can get a picture. We can try to because I only took a picture of it. We could try to figure out if it was, you know…”
“They shouldn’t be plugging the drain because… no drain, because I literally took out that toy and that’s… there was a white towel on the floor. There’s a trash can right there. I can tell you exactly. This gray… this gray one that was there, I’m thinking maybe it could have like fallen in afterwards.”
“Describe that towel to me.”
“It’s a little gray bath towel.”
“Okay. I know you say bath towel. So, a lot of people… bath towels, you know, some people say that what you dry your body with is a bath towel. Some people say you dry your… wash, a washcloth.”
“Okay. Like a washcloth.”
“Yeah.”
“Would it be like this? This size?”
“No, it’s like… it’s like two of these maybe.”
“Okay. Okay. And that’s gray.”
“Yes.”
“Is it dark gray?”
“Light gray maybe.”
“Okay. Was it clean? Was it new or was it… had already been used and was already…”
“Okay. All right. And that was there on the… Would it be on the rim of the tub? Would that be a problem?”
“So the tub… the tub’s more square-ish really. So there’s not really things to put like, you know, you put your soap, like usually the tubs have like on the corners and stuff like that. There’s not really nothing like that tub like that. So it was like right here. Okay. Like right when you step, like…”
“Okay. So right there by…”
“There’s like a big part of the tub, right? And it was like right here.”
“Okay. Thank you, ma’am. I’m still trying to hunt down a soda for you. We don’t have any up here, but I’m keeping an eye out. All right. Not yet. Um, how were Charlotte and then everybody else… um, everybody else is still, I believe, either speaking with officers. I don’t know. I’m only here with you, so I can’t… I don’t want to tell you, like I said, I don’t want to tell you anything untrue because I don’t know for certain.”
“Okay, Joan. Uh, this is what’s going on. Okay. You are going to be charged with injury to a child, uh, two of them, for causing the death of those babies. Okay. We’re waiting on patrol officers to get here so we can transport you to the jail. Okay. Do you have questions?”
“Yes, ’cause I’ve been sitting in here. Nobody’s told me anything.”
“Okay. Well, we were working on the search warrants for the home. We were working on, uh, getting with the judge to get your, uh, warrant signed. Okay. But both of the babies are, uh, deceased, uh, and they were under your care. Okay. You left them unattended in the bathtub. So, those are what your warrants are for. Okay. And we’ll be back in here shortly.”
“Can I call someone or…?”
“You’ll be able to call someone at the jail.”
“Okay. What is your question?”
“Um, why am I going to jail?”
“Because you are the babysitter. You were the one in charge of taking care of those kids. You were the one. You are the one. It doesn’t matter if you were supposed to be or not. You did. And you are the one that placed them in the bathtub. Okay. Okay. So that is the reason why.”
“So nobody else is doing the job. Not even for the other that’s in the house.”
“Okay. We’re doing a search on the house or going through everything in the house. We’ll deal with that once… once that comes. But right now, our concern is obviously those two little babies. Okay.”
“Hello ma’am. I’m going to take you. Okay.”
“Can I pee?”
“We can pee in the jail.”
“I cannot. I’m going to pee in your car. I really have to wait. I cannot wait. My bladder is full.”
“We will just go to the jail in your car. I’m sorry.”
In the end, investigators determined that Joan Reyes de Jesus placed the twins, Charlotte and Hazel, into the bathtub, turned on the water, and left the room before falling asleep for an extended period of time. Evidence showed that the tub was able to fill, allowing water to accumulate while the children remained unattended, ultimately leading to their drowning. Based on her admissions, the reconstructed timeline, and the physical evidence, prosecutors argued that her actions constituted conduct clearly dangerous to human life. She was charged and later convicted of two counts of murder in connection with the passing of both children. The court ultimately sentenced her to two life terms in prison with eligibility for parole after 35 years.
