A Texas mother has been accused of killing her 17-month-old daughter after she allegedly dropped her off a hotel balcony.
According to a Galveston Police Department press release and affidavit, Channel Yonko, 30, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with capital murder for the death of her daughter, Hannah Yonko.
After putting out a description for Hannah’s mother, police then reportedly found Channel, who was “crying” and asking the officer “for help.” According to the affidavit, Channel was “making comments about her daughter and that she might have been sick,” and took her in for questioning. Police said Channel did not give her name, but asked for a lawyer.
Channel’s sister, Mercedes Yonko, was interviewed at the station, per the document, and allegedly told officers she was staying in room 217 at the Beachfront Palms Hotel with her sister and niece. Police wrote that Mercedes said left the Beachfront Palms Hotel, Channel, and Hannah on Wednesday morning to talk to her fiancé at The Victorian. According to Mercedes, as noted in the affidavit, Channel “showed up to The Victorian, pushing a stroller,” but said she did not see Channel in the stroller.
According to the doc, investigators found a trash bag in a garbage bin in the parking garage under the hotel near where Hannah’s body was discovered. In the bag, one of the detectives allegedly discovered a key card for room 217, a “skinning” knife, along with plastic beach toys, unopened kids snacks, and diapers.
