A Texas woman who spent nearly three decades evading justice has been captured in Mexico. Maria Narez, 48, was arrested for her alleged role in the 1996 death of her three-year-old daughter, Kasandra White, ending a flight that began in 1997 when she failed to appear in court, according to authorities and multiple news reports.
The arrest comes after a coordinated effort involving U.S. and Mexican authorities, including Mexico Interpol, the U.S. Marshals Mexico Foreign Field Office, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement. The DA’s office credited its own investigators and prosecutors for the capture, saying their “tireless work ensures this decades-old case was not forgotten — and neither was the pursuit of justice.”
A Mother Accused of a Deadly Outburst
In November 1996, Narez, then a 19-year-old grocery store clerk, allegedly became enraged when her daughter refused to go to bed at their Fort Worth apartment. According to a 1996 account from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Narez told police she was feeling depressed and stressed when she ordered the child to bed. When the three-year-old refused, Narez said she “picked the baby up by the chest under her arms, threw her into a wall, and her head struck the door edge,” Fort Worth Police Department Sgt. Fred Pendergraf recounted to the paper at the time.
Kasandra began crying and said, “It hurts,” then went to bed, Pendergraf said. The next day, the child lost consciousness, and Narez rushed her to a hospital. Kasandra died three days later, on Nov. 13, 1996. Police arrested Narez that same day.
Indicted, Then Gone
A Tarrant County grand jury indicted Narez for capital murder in 1997, but the case took a dramatic turn when a judge reduced her bond to $25,000. Narez failed to show up for court proceedings later that year, and a warrant was issued for her arrest in late 1997 after her bond was forfeited, according to Fox 4 in Dallas. She had already left the country, becoming a fugitive for nearly 30 years.
The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office added that Narez was indicted again on capital murder charges in 1999, after she had fled. The office’s statement emphasized, “The DA’s office never gave up on bringing Narez back to face the charge against her and answer for the death of her daughter.”
What’s Next
Details about Narez’s life during her 29 years on the run have not been revealed. Authorities said she is now awaiting extradition from Mexico to Tarrant County to face the capital murder charges. The exact timeline for her return to the United States has not been announced.
The case has drawn attention not just for its tragic origins but for the length of time it took to bring a suspect to justice. The DA’s office praised the cooperation between agencies, and the arrest marks the end of a saga that began with a small child’s death in a modest Fort Worth apartment and spanned decades of investigative work.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/crime/2026/08/12/fugitive-texas-mom-charged-with-death-of-her-daughter-3-captured-after-nearly-30-years-on-the-run/