Web Desk
MUNCIE, Ind. — A Muncie woman has been charged with murder after a 4-year-old girl drowned in Houston.
According to court records from Harris County, Texas, the incident occurred on Sept. 9, 2023. Nakia Nash Nicole Martin, 39, claimed she was baptizing the child in a bathtub.
Other children in the home reported that Martin, who was babysitting them, held the girl underwater until she stopped moving.
Authorities say Martin, a former employee of Muncie Community Schools, did not call 911 until the next day. She later told police, “I didn’t mean to kill this baby.”
The Harris County district attorney’s office has charged Martin with murder. If convicted, she could face life in prison without parole or the death penalty.
Martin was arrested in Muncie on Dec. 10 and waived extradition. She is being held in the Harris County Jail on a $2 million bond.
According to investigators, Martin was a cousin of the victim’s mother. The child’s mother said she had a close relationship with Martin and had asked her to babysit while she was out of town.
On the day of her daughter’s death, the mother noticed Martin “sounding strange” during a FaceTime call. That call was the last time she saw her child alive.
Before her arrest, Martin was charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass in Muncie City Court over an incident on Nov. 11.
Martin previously worked as a full-time substitute at Longfellow Elementary School from August 2016 to September 2022.
She resigned to take another job, according to Muncie Community Schools officials.
